The Fragility of Time: Star Dust Memories
by etj4Eagle
Summary: Continuation of the Fragility of Time series. Still grieving from their loss, the Sailor Senshi are not given any rest for Sailor Galaxia looms on the horizon and the Dead Moon Circus is roused to early action.
1. Prologue

The Fragility of Time BOOK Three: "Stardust Memories"  
Prologue and Author's Note  
Author: etj4Eagle  
Email: etj4Eagle at fanfiction (net)  
Email2: etj4Eagle at yahoo (com)  
Posted 8/16/05  
Edited 8/16/05  
Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story, all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only so freely and inform me of where you post it.

* * *

Author's Note:

This is the third book in the Fragility of Time series, though in most places you will find that both the first and second book are posted together. If you are just coming across this story and haven't read the first two books, I hope that you do decide to read the full story and I highly recommend that you start with book I, War Without End. While, the story does follow the Sailor Moon storyline, a little time travel incident back during the Dark Kingdom attack has thrown a monkey wrench into the normal timeline, though at the same time Usagi and ChibiUsa have a much stronger mother-daughter relationship as a result.

And now for a quick recap of what has happened so far: ChibiUsa during her second trip through time (S arc) ended up along with Rubeus (R arc) during the Dark Kingdom arc (first season) with a pretty nasty resulting disruption to the time line. As of the end of Book II, the Dark Kingdom, both R arcs, and the S arc have been completed and Hotaru has been adopted by Usagi following the death of her father. However, victory against the Death Phantom was not without consequences. Usagi awoke too early to her true power as Sailor Cosmos and as a result burnt out her soul and now lays sealed away in stasis crystal while the one person who knows how to save her, Pluto, sacrificed her life to keep ChibiUsa from being erased by time.

As most readers by now are probably well aware of, there are frequent cameo appearances by various other shows / stories. In some cases the cameo is just a name for a one off character. In other cases, they are in there for a bit and instead of just making up duplicate items I pay homage to the other shows / stories. However, the cameos are never major and this is not a crossover story. The Harry Potter novels will have cameos in one of the threads of this story, helping me to expand out the magical aspects of the Sailor Moon Universe. However, this will not be a Harry Potter crossover (I couldn't write a good enough one if I wanted). If some one wants to expand at the Harry Potter themes that are being hinted at, feel free. All I ask is that you send me a link and give me credit for providing some of the story basis.

One final item, I was not too precise in the first two with the passage of time and the ages of Hotaru and ChibiUsa. After doing a little research, I discovered to my dismay that there is no real consensus on the age of Hotaru or ChibiUsa's apparent age. Consequently, I have decided that Hotaru is 10 years old and that ChibiUsa is 9 years old. Additionally as far as time of year, this story starts off in early spring, just weeks before the end of the school year. Consequently, the Guardian Senshi will be soon starting their last year of Junior High and along with that will have to start studying for their high school entrance exams.

Prologue

Curled up in a fetal position with Luna clenched in her arms, Hotaru suffered through yet another one of her nightly nightmares. Every night since the Mugan Academy incident, when she had faced off against Usagi and killed her own father, at least one and more often than not many nightmares had besieged her dreams. During the first few weeks following the incident, the nightmares were relatively minor and short lived, allowing Hotaru to quickly drift off into a dreamless slumber. However, as of late the nightmares had been getting continually worse and tended to focus around her loosing control over the power of Saturn and becoming that soldier of death.

Taking after her mother, ChibiUsa had been the moderating force for Hotaru's dreams during the initial first few weeks. With the support of Mamoru for her own loss, ChibiUsa had been able to be there for her best friend, now sister. And helping even more during the first couple of nights the two of them had slept in the same bed. But, now they slept on different futons and ChibiUsa had begun to become indrawn as well. With finals quickly approaching for the older girls and Mamoru, ChibiUsa and Hotaru found their support network weakening and so ChibiUsa became less extroverted and Hotaru's nightmares began to increase in darkness.

Following her own, daughter's advice, Luna had taken Hotaru as her new charge while the princess slept in her crystal coffin. And her presence was helping Hotaru; however, she was unable to help Hotaru face the darkness that lay in her soul. Only ChibiUsa could have helped Hotaru with that, but she was too young to realize what her sister needed. Trying to do her best for Hotaru, Luna had taken to accompanying the young girl to school – a note from Mizuno-san giving Hotaru the medical excuse to bring a pet to school. Initially Luna, Mizuno-san, and Tsukino-san had discussed keeping Hotaru home, but they had quickly realized that getting Hotaru to interact with children her own age would help her to heal.

This night, however, was destined to be different than the previous nights of nightmares, for not long after the first nightmare of the evening began, Hotaru's body suddenly stilled with the vanishing of the nightmare. Initially her dream had her using her glaive to kill one civilian bystander after another on the street in front her school, but now she found herself standing in the middle of a grassy hill, dressed in a sundress and feeling the warmth of the sun on her back. Looking up into the sky, she watched as a flock of geese crossed overhead and then looking down into the valley that lay before her she saw butterflies lift off of the wildflowers and dart about. Smiling to herself, she turned to her left and decided to follow a stream that ran along a nearby ridge line, completely forgetting the horror of the nightmare she had been in moments before. Walking along it was not long before she came upon a lush forest and then following the stream through the forest and out to the other side she had a sudden sense of deja-vu as she looked down into yet another valley, for down in the valley something metallic was reflecting the afternoon sun. _ Now why does that device look familiar? _ Hotaru thought to herself.

"This dream of yours was quite a unique one. And I must say, I like it much better than what you have been dreaming lately." came a young man's voice from behind Hotaru.

Quickly spinning and instinctively dropping into a defensive posture as she summoned her Grail, Hotaru, now wearing her Sailor Saturn Fuku demanded of the new comer, "Who are you?"

"I am Helios the high priest of Elusion." The stranger, who curiously had a golden horn, replied.

"Elusion?" Saturn asked.

"Hai, the world of dreams. My world is the fifth element of the Earth – imagination and the will to create. I have brought you here from your nightmares to a happier dream so that we can talk."

"I have dreamed this before?"

"That you have, I believe you had this dream not long after you first met the young maiden, Tsukino Usagi Serenity."

Now taking a second good look at the valley in front of her, Hotaru finally began to remember the dream. Giggling, she said, "Hai, I do remember now. That strange machine down there created a slew of…" But singing of "The wonderful thing about Tiggers is…" cut off Hotaru's reply as the valley was suddenly filled with singing and bouncing Tiggers. This time not afraid of getting in trouble for playing with the cloning machine Hotaru smile grew even larger and she said "Sugoi." Then remembering that there were two other people down there in that mayhem, a stricken look crossed Hotaru's face and she dashed off the ridge and down into the valley. Weaving and dodging her way through the Tiggers and bouncing with the occasional Tigger that caught hold of her, she finally made it to where the two victims of ChibiUsa's button pushing were huddled on the ground with their arms over their heads.

"Come; let me help you get you to safety." Saturn said to the two.

Looking up at the kind voice that had called out to them, LH and Patch's expression uplifted at the sight of Hotaru. Quickly grabbing a hold of her hands, the two were helped to their feet. And then once they had securely grabbed a hold of their savoir, Hotaru with powerful leaps leapt clear of the mayhem and brought them up to the edge of the forest.

"Arigato" both LH and Patch said to Hotaru as they stepped away and then with a change of scene they were gone along with the valley filled with Tigger clones. Instead the valley was now filled with wild flowers as a spring breeze wafted through the air.

"Child I know that your heart grieves from the loss of your father." Helios said to Hotaru "And that you fear your own power. I cannot quell you demons; it is something that you must face on your own. But I can tell you this: that in time you will learn to look on your power as a gift instead of a curse.

"But that is not why I brought you here to your dreams. I am need of your help. I know of the prophecy that tells of how to awaken her Highness. To awaken her, the power of the Earth needs to awaken. Because of my connection to the Earth, I can feel the presence of the other four elements, and of late I have felt tepid pulses of power from the element of Wind. However, I cannot leave Elusion undefended. Instead, I need you to find and awaken the element of Wind." Helios explained while placing a hand on Hotaru's head. And with his touch, Hotaru felt a warmth rush into her body as he transferred to her the ability to sense the element of Wind.

With his task complete, Helios slowly lowered Hotaru to the ground. Smiling as he watched the young girl peacefully dream, he stepped out of her dream and returned to Elusion proper to a less pleasant task of fortifying that world's defenses against the attacks by the other moon queen.

* * *

The following day found Luna sitting up in a tree and bathing in the sunlight as she kept a lazy eye on her charge, watching her through a window. Normally she would be inside curled up under Hotaru's chair, but this was art class and she had quickly made the decision that Hotaru should be able to face one class by herself. This of course had nothing to do with getting streaks of paint into her fur for the third day in a row, nothing at all. But if she didn't have to deal with multi-colored fur and multi-hour long baths to remove the paint, all the better. Hearing the gentle sway of a branch as it took some additional weight; Luna looked away form the building and was not surprised to see Diana there as well. Then slightly frowning, Luna realized that something was bothering the kitten.

"Muzume what appears to be troubling you?"

Brought out of her contemplations, Diana looked up at the concerned look of her mother. "I want to do something to help ChibiUsa and Hotaru, but I am not supposed to do it. But I know that they would be much better off if I did." Diana said.

Suppressing a chuckle Luna had at least an idea of the source of Diana's troubles. "I am guessing that your problem is associated with the future and not revealing what shouldn't be. I can only offer you this advice, which is what Usagi always does and serves her very well: follow your heart. As long as you listen to it, then it won't lead you astray."

Nodding her understanding, Diana replied, "I think I know what you mean momma." Then getting up from the tree, Diana jumped down to the ground before turning and looking back at her mother with a smirk on her face. But only pausing for a moment, Diana let her kitten form grow into that of a human child. Now seeing the dumb founded look on her mother, Diana's smile grew even bigger. But not saying a word, Diana turned on her heals and began walking towards the school, intent on enrolling herself into ChibiUsa's class.

As for Luna, she remained stunned on the tree limb as she watched her daughter's metamorphosis into a human child. _ How, can that be? _ she asked herself. But even as she vocalized that question the answers began coming to her in a torment. Now with the mental link made, she could clearly remember being in both her cat and human forms, for that was one of the traits of her people. And as those memories came she realized that quite a few of the memories she already had were incorrect, for whereas she had originally seen herself and Artemis as cats in those memories, she was actually in her human form in those. _ Well then this will make looking after Hotaru much easier. _ thought Luna with a smile, a statement that was far more true than she realized.

* * *

Having collected the day's mail, Ikuko walked back to the house. As she did so, she mentally ran through her checklist of things she needed to take care of before the children got home from school. She had everything that she needed for dinner and all of the errands that she had slated for today were already taken care of. That then just left the daily cleaning of the house and as she looked around the downstairs while leafing through the mail she was satisfied that things appeared to be sufficiently clean. And so with everything taken care of, she could indulge in a cup of tea and relax for the last remaining hours of peace before the end of school. Still leafing through the mail, she headed into the kitchen. Then reaching the bottom of the pile she came across a letter whose return address indicated that it was from the Agency of Children Services, ACS.

Pulling that final letter out of the stack, Ikuko placed the rest of the mail down on the counter and released a sigh. She already knew the gist of what the letter was going to say and was not looking forward to breaking the news to Hotaru and ChibiUsa. And even though she was having a hard time trying to help the two cope with their trauma, she did not want to give up Hotaru. Hotaru's adoption after all was Usagi's last wish. Then there was also the issue of what would be best of Hotaru's recovery. Ikuko had no illusions that due to Hotaru's gift she would have a hard time fitting in at a different school. And that without ChibiUsa there as her friend, Hotaru could very well end up regressing even if she did get out of this depression sooner.

Knowing that Usagi deserved to hear the news, Ikuko headed upstairs to her daughter's room. Then sitting down on the bed beside her daughter, Ikuko placed a hand on the crystal that encased the girl, Ikuko did not say anything for the first few moments, instead just letting her love for her daughter flow between them. "Usagi, I wish I could give you good news and tell you that Hotaru and ChibiUsa are doing better. Unfortunately, they are still taking you loss hard and now with Mamoru and the other girls all busy with exams it seems to be hitting them even harder. I have tried to be there for them, but I have to admit that you are a much better mother than me with matters of the heart. Even with both you and Shingo, I am just not as good as you instinctively are. Unfortunately, I think that is another reason why they are taking it so hard, as for at least ChibiUsa you have been a pillar of support that has kept her from cracking all of these months that she has been herewith us. Without your unconditional love, I don't think she would have been able to handle the strain. And now she is being forced to face that loss without you at the same time she is facing her loss of you.

"I know your heart is so large that you can work miracles with it, so I have no doubt that you'll find a way to return, just so that you can be there for ChibiUsa and Hotaru. I just hope that you find that way before long." Ikuko said to her daughter, a speech that was similar in theme to her various monologues with her daughter these past weeks. While the specifics differed each time she gave it, the substance of ChibiUsa and Hotaru needing Usagi was always the same and Ikuko always ended her talks with an assurance for herself that Usagi would find a way to cheat death one more time. After all she had worked a miracle in the artic in order to protect her daughter and Ikuko had no doubt that Usagi could do it again.

Ikuko continued to sit beside Usagi's still body for another ten minutes before she remembered the letter that she had in her hand. "Oh, Usagi a letter came in the mail that concerns you. I know you had promised Hotaru that you would be her new mother, but you have to remember that the state has the ultimate say in the matter. And they aren't going to look very favorable on your ability to care for Hotaru given your state and that even my ability to care for Hotaru would be quite limited. However, we have at least been able to take care of her for a bit and I am sure that once you are better that her foster parents would have no problem with you being a "big sister" to her." Ikuko said, consoling her daughter for what she knew would be a big let down.

Then opening the letter she pulled out the contents and begin to quickly scan over the cover letter before she began to read it to her daughter, knowing that Usagi would get lost in the legalese that might be up front in the document. However, as she read the letter, her mind froze as her eyes went wide, though she did not stop reading. _ How? I was sure that there was no way. And while I did tell the police about Usagi's pledge, I only told them as being what Hotaru had said with regard to the matter. They… _ Ikuko thought to herself, not quite being able to make sense of the letter. Not because she didn't understand its contents, but because she didn't understand how it could be. They didn't have any friends in high places who could have arranged for this outcome, so how was it that the state agreed to recognize the adoption? An adoption by a mother who was in all practical matters dead and she hadn't misread that section. She had reread it five times, before she was sure that they had said Usagi and not herself. Then noticing the other documents that she had allowed to fall to the floor with the envelope as she had read the cover letter, she picked them up. Leafing through these she was equally startled to find a birth certificate for ChibiUsa. Though the date of birth field did not include a birth year and two additional fields were added to the form: an age as of field giving her age as 909 years as of the current year and an apparent age field giving here apparent age in the current year as nine.

"…Okay…" Ikuko slowly said to herself as she picked the envelope up to recheck everything to make sure that it was not a hoax or a forgery by one of the other girls. But everything looked in order and the letter had been mailed only the previous day. Picking up the birth certificate and certificate of adoption, Ikuko examined the seals and decided that they looked authentic.

Now turning with a big smile on her face, Ikuko dropped all of the documents as she wrapped her arms around the crystal which held Usagi. Weeping tears of joy, she spoke, "Usagi you were right after all. I should have known that you would find a way to make the impossible possible. ACS has approved of your adoption of Hotaru, I don't know how it happened, but you are now the proud mother of two. And the state even recognizes that you are the birth mother of ChibiUsa, how they found out about her real age I have no idea and how it got through the system is an even a bigger mystery. But you have someone out there looking for you.

"And of course we will throw Hotaru a nice large party tonight. After all we have to welcome her officially into the family. But don't worry about missing it; we will just have to do it all over again once you get better." Ikuko said.

"Hmm… I wonder what kind of ice-cream she likes." Ikuko asked herself. Then realizing that she didn't have the necessary items on hand for a party, she sat back up. "Honey, I'm sorry but I am going to have to run. I just realized that I need to do some more shopping if I want to be able to have that party tonight. But don't worry; I will be sure to let you know how it all goes tomorrow." Ikuko said as she gathered up the documents and left the room.

Arriving back downstairs, Ikuko began to sort through the papers, determining which ones that she should take to the bank to place in a safe deposit box after she made some copies. The school would probably need one to recognize that change in guardianship of Hotaru. _ Wait what is this third certificate for? Certificate of birth for ChibiChibi, daughter of Ikuko and Kenji Tsukino? _ Ikuko thought to herself before exclaiming out loud, "Nani!" _ Does this mean that we are about to get another guest. And what is this about her being my daughter? The birth certificate for ChibiUsa listed Usagi and Mamoru as her parents, so why would this one list me and Kenji as her parents and what kind of name is ChibiChibi? _

However, those were questions for which there were no answers and no way to get any answers at the moment. There was a chance that ChibiUsa might know something about this ChibiChibi, maybe she did come form the future and was just a younger sister of Usagi. After all, she guessed that it might have been reasonably safe to put Usagi down as the mother of ChibiUsa, since biologically there was no way that a 14 year old could have carried a 9 year old child and instead of child abuse people probably would think weird science. But throw a 3 year old into the mix and well that started to become feasible and Usagi did not need people thinking that she had been subjected to statutory rape. So maybe that was why ChibiChibi was going to be her and Kenji's daughter. But there was nothing she could do about it now and if she wanted to make it back in time to get the surprise party ready, she needed to get going. So putting the question of who this ChibiChibi was, Ikuko gathered up the documents and headed out of the house.

* * *

Doodling in her notebook, Hotaru impatiently waited for the day to end. Since the start of the day she hadn't been really able to focus on her classes, elements of her dream replaying themselves in her mind. For the first time since the incident she was not torn up with grief, instead she now had a purpose. She didn't know why she knew the dream was true or why she felt fate needed her to go on this quest. But there was no doubt in her mind that she would not be returning to the Tsukinos tonight. No tonight she would begin her quest. Once school let out, she would begin her trek to the west, to where she felt the tug of the wind. What she needed to do when she got there she knew not, but if she could save Usagi, her new momma, she would do whatever she could.

"Hotaru-chan could you solve the problem?" the math teacher asked, ripping Hotaru out of her daydream.

Having been daydreaming the entire class, Hotaru had missed the entire lesson. Thankfully, however with the private tutoring she had been getting at home before she started attending school, she was above her grade level in most of her subjects. But both her father and the school officials had felt it best that she be placed with kids her own age, something that Hotaru was quite grateful for. As it was, it was that extra tutoring that kept Hotaru from getting in trouble, allowing her to give the correct answer of 4.

"Thank you Hotaru." The teacher said before moving on to target the next student who was getting too anxious about the end of class.

When the bell finally rang, Hotaru quickly gathered up her belongings and made a mad dash for the door. Normally she was one of the last students out of the school at the end of the day, preferring to walk at a more reasonable pace. However, today she had one shadow that she needed to get rid of and she hoped that by leaving in the mad rush of kids she would catch Luna unaware.

And as she passed through the gate of the school, Hotaru smiled with relief as she saw that Luna was nowhere in sight. Making a quick right, she continued heading down the sidewalk, or at least tried to. A hand that reached out and grabbed a hold of her though had other plans and Hotaru was quickly waylaid.

"And where do you think you are getting off to so fast young lady?" Luna asked.

"Huh?" came Hotaru's startled reply from one hearing Luna out in public and two from when she got a good look at the woman holding her and noticed a golden crescent moon on her forehead. "Luna?"

"Hai, it's me. Diana just reminded me this afternoon that both Artemis and I can take a human form in addition to that of our house cat form. I had been a bit curious as to how our race had managed to achieve interstellar travel given the inability to grasp objects in our feline form." Luna explained. For her part, Hotaru just stared with her mouth open, not quite knowing what to think. "Come on, let's go to the Crown Fruit Parlor, I suddenly have a craving for some ice-cream. Tuna and milk just don't have the same appeal anymore now that I am back in my human form." And so, with that Luna lead a still stunned Hotaru off to get an after school snack.

* * *

While Luna and Hotaru headed off to the Crown Fruit Parlor for ice-cream and talk, Minako headed out of the city limits as soon as she was able to escape from her own day of school. A couple of students who saw her pass by at the end of the day could have sworn they heard a sonic boom following her passage. But they quickly dismissed that thought as that would just be absurd. For Minako the reason for her hurry was that she wanted to make sure she was back in time to watch her favorite anime series when it came on at nine – "The Further Adventures of Sailor V".

Quickly changing into her Sailor Venus form as soon as she found a little seclusion in an alleyway, Venus then continued the trek at an even higher speed. As she dashed down the city streets, she did not pay any heed to the angry yells she received from the drivers passing through the Juuban ward over using their car roofs as spring boards. Finally reaching the edge of the city limits, she found a truck making good time down the highway heading her direction and she hopped a lift. Sitting back and enjoying the view from the roof of the trailer she began to run through exactly what she needed to do when she arrived at her destination. She and Sailor Erion had worked through it all yesterday, but her time in England as Sailor V had taught her that it was always good to review the plan of attack many times whenever circumstances forced her to have to meet with brass. While street cops were easy to get along with, the higher ups tended to dismiss her out of hand if she did not come in ready to fight a verbal tooth and nail battle for what she needed.

* * *

"Ami, coming to the shrine to study?" Makoto asked her friend as the two of them left the school grounds.

"Iie, not today." Ami replied, trying to keep her inner emotions in check. "I have to get some books from the library for my advanced physics exam."

"Ok then, you have fun there. I am sure we are going to be having just as much fun." Makoto said with the dry humor of a kid being forced to go study.

Waving bye to her friend, Ami watched her vanish around the corner before turning and walking in a direction opposite of the library. Then after waiting a few minutes for the bus to arrive, she boarded it. Taking the first available seat she sat down and allowed herself to relax slightly as the bus began to pull away. Absently noting someone sitting down beside her, Ami did bother to look up, focused as she was on the reason for why she had just lied to her friend.

"You may have been able to trick Makoto, but I know you too well Mizuno-chan." A familiar voice said from beside Ami, causing her to jump slightly in surprise.

Quickly trying to grab a hold of her wits, a now blushing Ami turned to regard Ryo. "Ryo-kun what are you doing here?"

"That was what I was going to ask you." A grinning Ryo replied. Then turning more seriously he said, "I know that something is bothering you Ami. Let me help you."

"Iie, there is nothing wrong." Ami replied

However, Ryo did not take that explanation and he let Ami know by reaching out his hand to take a hold of one of hers. "Ami you can't hide it from me, I know there is something wrong. After all you just lied to Makoto and the only reason why I was able to follow you onto this bus is because I phased out of the visible." Ryo said before pausing, then seeing Ami's slight nod indicating her capitulation he continued. "Tell me what is wrong; even if I can't help, at least talking about it will help you."

Taking a deep breath, Ami steeled her nerves before responding. "Hai, I will tell you, but not till we get to my destination."

"Ok" Ryo agreed before sitting back in his seat and wrapping an arm around Ami, an arm that was quickly appreciated by Ami as she leaned in against his body and closed her eyes.

* * *

At the Crown Fruit Parlor, Hotaru and Luna shared a banana split. For the first half of the treat, Luna just savored the tastes and sensations developing a quick appreciation as to why Usagi liked these treats so much and knowing that it would take all of her will-power to not follow after Usagi with regard to sweets. Back during the Silver Millennium she would have been able to handle the occasional sweet with out issue, but after being trapped in her feline form for so long, the tastes that came with her human form were all the more overwhelming.

Now having satisfied the initial cravings that came when the Sunday had been placed down in front of the two of them, a reaction that had even caused Hotaru to giggle, Luna could once again think straight. Looking across the table at her charge who was more sedately eating her share of the treat, she realized that Hotaru was looking more troubled than normal and then there was that issue of Hotaru trying to dash off without her after school.

"Hotaru-chan is something bother you?" Luna asked

"Iie, everything is fine." Hotaru lied, as she wandered how she was going to get away from Luna now.

"If that is the case, where were you off to in such a hurry after school today?" Luna asked.

"umm… well…" Hotaru stammered not knowing how to explain her actions to Luna and knowing that she was busted.

"Hotaru, before you answer that let me explain something to you. Her highness, ChibiUsa, has now assigned me as your guardian. This means my primary job is to look after you and to keep your confidence. I have a feeling that you were not planning on returning home this afternoon. If that is the case, my job is to go with you, not to stop or tattle on you. I am only supposed to help you learn to make the right decision at any point and then be there for you when things don't work out. I may nag you until you return home, but I won't stop you and if you want me to stay as a cat during the entire time then I will unless you life is in danger." Luna explained

Taking sometime to absorb what Luna said, Hotaru finally nodded her understanding. And as she did so, the pit of concern that the had over what the had been about to do, even though she knew in her heart that it was the right action, began to lift, as she realized that this was a good turn of events. And so with that, Hotaru began describing her dream from the night before and what she felt she needed to do. While obviously not pleased with Hotaru's chosen course of action, Luna held true to her word and agreed to accompany Hotaru on her journey. However, she did convince Hotaru that she should return tonight and instead plan to leave in two days time. The following day was just a half day, so they could use the afternoon to buy supplies that they would need on the trip and then they would leave in the early hours of the following morning – with a note left to alleviate the concerns of the Tsukinos.

* * *

Arriving at the outskirts of the Zima military base, Venus leapt off the roof of "ride", and down onto the ground. One nice thing about their enhanced Senshi abilities was that it made jumping onto and off of fast moving vehicles as simple as riding a bike, which was very helpful for traveling long distances in a hurry. While they could run quite fast, especially when they were sprinting, there was no way she would have been able to keep up any kind of fast pace in making it all of the way out here from Tokyo.

Now regarding the exterior fence of the air base, Venus began to consider what her best approach to gain entrance would be. While she had thought out in detail her discussion with the base commander, she hadn't really considered how she was going to get an audience with him. Ever since her "talk" with Erion some weeks ago, she knew that she needed to begin coordinating with the military. The haphazard impromptu coordination of the previous incidents while fine then was not going to be sufficient for this looming new crisis. And especially given that with the loss of Sailor Moon, ChibiMoon and Pluto, their own strength now was far less than what it had been before. And while Hotaru did have tremendous potential, Venus also knew that with as young and inexperienced as she was, her strength probably lay only slightly stronger than ChibiMoon, the Mugen incident being a special care.

The chatter of a group approaching her from behind broke Venus out of her contemplation. Turning her gaze from the fence to look down the street, she saw a group of soldiers returning from what she figured was either an afternoon of leave or an early dinner on the town. _ Hmm, now why does that one seem familiar to me? _ Venus thought to herself after getting a good look at one of the soldiers as they approached. She really hadn't had a good look at any of the soldiers who had helped them in the past and the one that had drawn her attention was wearing a pilot's uniform and she knew that she hadn't seen any of the pilots. The only ones the group who had seen one of the pilots had been ChibiUsa, Hotaru and Diana and that had been just that one night when Hotaru and ChibiUsa had faced off against Kaolinite, the last time any of them had seen that witch. _ Wait that's it. That must be Keffer. _ Venus thought to herself as she now recalled Diana's description of the off-duty pilot who had come across ChibiUsa and Hotaru.

Now sporting a nice large smile, Venus broke away from the building side she had been leaning against so as to not draw too much attention and began strolling over to the group. And then as she began to get close, she called out, "Konichiwa Keffer-san." drawing their attention.

Looking towards the source of the girl's voice, Keffer along with the rest of his flight group found the voice's owner to be a teenage girl dressed as one of the Sailor Senshi.

"Keffer-san, I didn't know you knew the Sailor Senshi?" Ivanova asked / stated with an edge to her voice which the rest of the group instantly recognized as meaning you better start explaining or its going to get quite painful for you quite fast.

"I don't or at least I don't think I do. Though, I did help one of their allies a while back. Remember that girl I saw the last time we were out on liberty?"

"Oh your underaged lover who you risked getting run over by a half dozen cars to spend the evening with instead of us." One of the others replied, eliciting a grown from Keffer, a smirk from Ivanonva and a raised eyebrow from Venus.

"Yes, that one. Well turns out she is a friend of the Sailor Senshi. Actually she isn't even human. You remember that kitten I had for a while."

"Hai" the others replied not seeing where this was going, nor did Venus though she did figure that the kitten must have been Diana, but that still left the question of the girl's identity.

"Well turns out the kitten and the girl are one in the same." Keffer replied

"Nani!" exclaimed the others including Venus.

"Hai, apparently she is some kind of magical creature that is able to take both a human and kitten form. Though, she was not really supposed to use her human form for some reason." Keffer explained, not really convincing the others, but giving them a sufficient explanation for how Sailor Venus might know him.

Then turning to regard the Sailor Senshi in question, they found her to be muttering under her breath about a fleabag that was making her do all the work when he could open all those tuna cans perfectly fine on his own. Noticing that she appeared to be getting herself worked up over something, none of the group really wanted to disturb her. After all she looked like a time-bomb about ready to go off; however, at the same time Keffer knew that he had no choice. She obviously was here for a reason and she had identified him so she was his responsibility.

With much trepidation, Keffer gingerly walked up to Venus and gently tapped her arm while in a quite voice said, "Venus-sama."

Thrown for a loop for a moment, Venus quickly came back to why she was here as she took stock of where she was while letting her grumblings over Artemis be forgotten. "Keffer-san if it wouldn't trouble you too much, could you escort me to the commanding officer of this base. I have some important matters that I need to discuss with him."

"Hai, of course. This way please." Kefffer said as he began escorting the teenaged warrior into the military base.

Of course getting into the base took a little longer than normal, since it took a little bit of time to get the stunned MP functioning again after meeting a Sailor Senshi for real. The pilots and gunners of course had no problem with meeting one of the legendary Sailor Senshi, after all their awe over these mythical beings was taken care of the first time they had to fight the equally mythical monsters. And then of course once he was functioning again properly there was the issue of signing autographs and Venus posing for photographs, something that she seemed all too eager to do and which had Keffer mumbling about how she already was thinking like a politician. But eventually ten minutes later than it should have taken they were in the base proper and heading for general's house, since it was after all after then end of his day. Though, thankfully at least the young MP had the task of calling the general and interrupting his dinner and not him, a task that Keffer did not envy the MP for, even though the MP was delivering good news.

* * *

A little more than an hour after they got on the bus, Ryo and Ami arrived at a woodland park on the outskirts of Tokyo. Not saying anything, the two of them slowly walked into the park and away from the other hikers. As they walked, Ryo held Ami's hand and he could feel the tension and unease that was quickly building up in her body and he wondered yet again what could be bothering her so much. He knew that Usagi's loss had hurt her very deeply, but he had thought that she had gotten over the worst of it with the help of her new dog. Speaking of which, as he looked down, he noticed that said dog was now walking on the other side of Ami.

_ Now wait a second, that dog was nowhere on the bus and I am sure that even a moment ago he wasn't here. _Ryo thought to himself upon seeing Youko on the other side of Ami. Looking a little more closely at Youko, Ryo noticed that he had a very unique coat with a shine that at times made it look as if it were silver and now looking even more closely he was able to make out a faint hint of blue to the coat as well. Chuckling a little over that discovery, Ryo thought _ Well that fits. Being Mercury and all Ami does seem to have a predisposition to fresh water and the color light blue. _

Finally reaching what Ami apparently thought was a secluded enough area, she stopped for a moment in silence. Letting go of Ami's hand, Ryo followed by Youko stepped back to the edge of the little alcove that they now found themselves in while Ami proceeded to walk forward into the center of the opening. Once she arrived there, she pulled out her computer and did a quick scan of the area before putting it back away. And then with a flick of the wrist she had her transformation wand in her hand. Catching her eyes, Ryo gave her an encouraging wink, now beginning to realize that Ami had some kind of concern over her Sailor power.

Gathering all of her courage, Ami held her transformation wand in front of her chest and then with all of her heart she called out her transformation phrase as she cut down through the air with the wand. However, to the surprise of Ryo and to her sorrow, the wand refused to activate. Bringing her hand back up she tried again and again, each time her voice loosing its strength before after the sixth time she finally collapsed to the ground, her body racked by sobs.

Moving the instant she collapsed, Ryo was able to pull his sobbing girlfriend into his arms while Youko came up and began running his muzzle against her back. Lowering himself into a comfortable sitting position, Ryo adjusted Ami's position so that she now rested sideways against him. Then placing some light kisses into her hair, he slowly began to rub circles in her back with his right hand while Youko placed his head down in her lap and gave a quiet whine.

The minutes ticked by with the three of them like that till fifteen minutes after she had collapsed, Ami had regained sufficient control over her sorrow that she was able to look up into Ryo's face. Seeing an expression of thanks on her tear drenched face, Ryo replied with a kiss showing that he did not mind before he pulled her back against his chest.

Another two minutes passed in silence before Ami finally spoke. "Since the night of the incident, I have felt as if my Mercury power is no longer there. Only tonight I was able to work up the courage to …"

Placing another kiss on his girlfriend's hair, Ryo shushed her before she began to fall apart again. "Don't worry about it, I am sure the others would be feeling the same way if they had lost their powers as well. And you are Usagi's friend not because you are Sailor Mercury but because you are Ami."

"Demo…"

"No buts Ami. I know Usagi isn't here with us now, but ChibiUsa and Hotaru are and they have just as an open heart as their mother. Anyways I am sure that your loss of power is only temporary, you have been through a lot in these past few months. I don't care if you were a soldier in your past life we are still children in this one and you can't expect to be as strong as you once were."

Hearing the logic in what Ryo was saying Ami let herself be comforted more while the scientific part of her brain began to return to the forefront and rebuilt her confidence as it began laying out how to think otherwise given the current facts would just not be logical. "Hai, you're right Ryo-kun." Ami replied before giving Ryo a kiss before saying "Arigatoo."

Giving her a squeeze, Ryo grinned. "It is nothing, and I just want you to be happy. Now I think there is someone you are neglecting." Ryo said while indicating Youko who had a large set of puppy dog eyes at the moment.

Laughing to herself, Ami reached out and began to scratch behind Youko's ears. Watching Ami interact with her dog, Ryo couldn't help but to grin, knowing that for at least the moment Ami's fears had been fully squashed. _ There is something special about Youko there; I can feel it in the ancient part of my soul. He just seems to appear and disappear as Ami needs him to, I don't think I have ever seen Youko come or go he is always just suddenly there or not there. I wouldn't be surprised if Youko and Ami's loss of power are related. It would be just like Usagi to find a way to craft the power of Mercury into a pet that could be there for Ami. What better way to help Ami, as she will always feel at ease with Youko since he is her. _ Ryo thought to himself with a smile. And while his realization was quite correct it was also very wrong.

* * *

Arriving home after having finished their ice cream treat as well as some window shopping, which Luna had insisted on to allow her to began to figure out what she and Hotaru would need for their trek, Hotaru who was now carrying Luna in her cat form opened the door to the house and stepped inside. Immediately she was greeted by a worried Ikuko, who quickly wrapped her up into a hug.

"Hotaru-chan you had me worried. You are never out this late after school; you should have called me first." Ikuko gently scolded.

Feeling guilty now over her original plan of disappearing without leaving any note for her adopted family, Hotaru hung her head low. "Gomen-nasi Ikuko-mama."

"Actually, Ikuko-san it is my fault that Hotaru was not home at her normal time today." Luna said as she leapt out of Hotaru's arms.

"Oh?"

"Hai, thanks to Diana, I remembered something significant that I had forgotten." Luna said as she transformed back into her human form. "And as you might be able to imagine, I was a bit anxious to get reacquainted with this body."

"Ah… yes I can see." Ikuko managed to say as her mind went for a loop over seeing Luna turn into a very attractive looking young woman who appeared to be in her young twenties. _ Now Ikuko, Luna turning into a human is no more strange than her being able to talk and actually makes a bit more sense. _ Ikuko told herself as she began to accept what she had just seen. "This will take a little getting used to, but now I have another set of hands around here." Ikuko replied with a smile that made Luna shiver a bit as she realized that her free ride at the Tsukinos was now over. "Though I am a bit surprised by how young you look, I guess I was expecting you to be a bit older."

Smiling, Luna replied, "Iie, I am around the same effective age as Serenity was before the fall. And the same is true of Artemis, which is why we were to be her advisors and were not her mother's advisors."

"Well then, I guess it is a good thing I am still fixing meals as if Usagi was here in terms of the amount of food I prepare. I am assuming that Diana can also take a human form; you did mention her being the reason why you remembered that you could take this form. Now come on you two, the others are starting to become impatient for dinner." Ikuko said as she escorted them over to the table.

Sitting down, Luna took notice of the more intricate layout of food than normal while Ikuko explained her situation to Shingo and Kenji and Diana took her human form as well. Then accepting the offered additional plate from Ikuko, Luna joined the others in loading up her plate.

Sometime later, once they had finished eating, Ikuko cleared the plates from the table with Luna's help. Then once Luna had reseated, Ikuko went into the kitchen and brought out a cake getting everyone's attention.

"Minna-san, today we received great news. Today is the day when Hotaru officially became part of our family. Usagi received in the mail today a letter from ACS containing the approved adoption papers for Hotaru." Ikuko said

"Hotaru-chan!" ChibiUsa exclaimed at an ear blasting decibel level as she cleared the table and latched onto Hotaru pulling her down to the ground in a tackle hug.

Luna chuckled to herself for a moment before catching Diana's eye and then the two of them launched them selves at the pair of kids further adding to the rolling ball of hugs.

While Shingo looked on at the group of girls unsure if he wanted to join in or not, Kenji looked up at his wife and asked, "How?"

"I have no idea. I can only assume that Usagi somehow managed to work another miracle." A statement that was for more true than she realized, though it was no miracle, just the arrival of the right documents in the right places all arranged by one pint sized absolute innocence version of Cosmos.

* * *

"So let me get this straight you want to propose a military alliance between the Sailor Senshi and the JDF?" General Yamato stated.

"Hai, with the loss of Sailor Moon and Pluto our strength is severely diminished and I have been told there is another more dangerous threat heading our way. It may be here in a few years or it could get here sooner."

"Your suggestion does have merit; I will need to talk it over with the ministry of course. But I have seen the results of when our forces and your team coordinate their efforts and I am not above admitting that you girls do a far better job at fighting these things than our best trained soldiers." Yamato said before pausing briefly.

"While I have to wait for the ministry's approval before we can make this official. I look forward to this partnership. Can you be here at the same time tomorrow evening; I would like to introduce you to the senior field officers." Yamato said continuing, knowing that it would be beneficial to get at least an initial meeting done soon so that his soldiers could fight along side the Sailor Senshi without being star-struck.

"Hai, no problem. Oh, one more thing. I would like you to consider having Sailor Mercury work with your defense suppliers to develop weaponry that will be more effective against demons than what you currently have." Seeing the general's questioning look, Venus elaborated. "The Moon Kingdom, even though it has been gone for a thousand years was far more advanced than any of the nations on earth. And we had a regular military in addition to the Sailor Senshi. While we don't remember that much personally, Mercury has a large database of information stored on her computer and I am sure if you throw her into a room with some of your own tech wizards you will be very happy with what they turn out."

"I will definitely pass that recommendation along as well. There is a big ruckus over at the ministry currently over the ineffectiveness of our troops against those creatures. I think that offer alone will be enough to get them to agree to a full military alliance with you girls." Yamato replied. "Now if you don't mind me asking how old are you? You don't look like you are even out of school yet."

"Hai, that is correct. I am still in junior high."

"Nani-ka!" Yamato exclaimed stunned by that admission.

"Well I've got to run. Have to get my beauty sleep and all, you know." Venus announced with a smile as she got up from her chair and let herself out of the general's house. Left behind in his den, Yamato was still trying to digest that little bomb shell. After all he had a grand-daughter entering junior high in a few weeks, and it was apparently junior high students who were fighting this war. And he had no delusions that this was a war that was being fought. It was not till half an hour later that Yamato had collected himself and picked up the phone to call his superior with the good news.

* * *

From the top of a tower of a thousand year old castle in Scotland, a teenaged girl looked up the gibbous moon that hung in the sky. Fingering the turnip earring she had just removed, she closely regarded the waxing shape of the moon while tilting her head slightly to the side. Holding a letter from her father in her hand, the girl wondered if she should tell her father of her discovery, after all it was a incredible discovery something that heshould really dedicate a whole issue to. But as important as the event was, she realized that it was not time for the world to know what had happened. With the shadow gaining strength every day it was best if the conception which had occurred a few days ago went unnoticed. After all, the moon's light would be weak for a while; she just hoped that the Lion's heir would not suffer too much before the ray of light recovered.

Turning away from the night sky, she shoved the parchment into her pocket and headed back into the castle, questions and lines of inquiry already forming in her mind. The time available for the two heirs was now short; they would need to learn the power of the angels and of mother earth before that power moved on. Now was the time to review the myths of old and learn of the rite of blood. Stopping to regard one of the stone gargoyles of the castle with a stare for fifteen minutes that finally ended when the stone statue appeared to flinch, she also decided that it was time to begin collecting Jadeite. The angel of Movement would need it when she came to bring ruin and life to the Lion's tower.

-End chapter

-And so begins the third book. While this chapter may have been a bit confusing, it was necessary evil to begin laying out the many story threads that will be woven together in this tapestry.

-I wish I could write good Luna Lovegood, but I imagine that she is probably one of the hardest character to write and I have read only a few stories which have done her well. The problem is that she is very intelligent but that intelligence is hidden behind a veil of what can be considered to be insanity. How much is real and how much is an act, I don't know, but she is a really fun character if written well.

-For those who are wondering how the documents got filed correctly for the adoption of Hotaru, this is what ChibiChibi's finger painting at the end of book II was about. Each finger painting represented one set of documents. Hearts and Rabbits made ChibiChibi Usagi's sister, two rabbits made ChibiUsa Usagi's daughter, and fireflies and a rabbit made Hotaru Usagi's daughter. The magic of the Gate of SpaceTime then took care of the rest in translating and delivering said documents. After all with ChibiChibi being the purity of Cosmos heart and innocence, she just needs to put her heart into what she was doing and then indecipherable child artwork will become something real.

-And now for the bad news. I am afraid that updates on this story may not come as often I am going to want them. I had hoped to be able to pick up the pace of story writing, but it looks like I am not going to be able to do that. Earlier this summer I learned that I have a serious medical condition, which thankfully for now can be treated by medication. Unfortunately, there are many side effects to the medication, one of which currently is that I have less energy than I used to. Having to spend an extra hour a day sleeping may not seem like much, but when you are already quite busy with life and work, well that becomes significant. However, I will still be writing the chapters and posting them as fast as I can. And as always the best way to motivate a writer is to send reviews and then when he starts procrastinating too much the "Hey hurry up" email is always a useful tool:).


	2. Chapter 1: Points of Departure

The Fragility of Time BOOK Three: "Stardust Memories"  
Chapter 1: Points of Depature  
Author: etj4Eagle  
Email: etj4Eagle at fanfiction (net)  
Email2: etj4Eagle at yahoo (com)  
Posted 10/23/05  
Edited 10/23/05  
Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story, all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only so freely and inform me of where you post it.

* * *

Cagali having finished repackaging the last pair of hiking boots from her previous customer looked up and scanned the store before standing, checking to see if there were any other customers to help before going into the back to put away the boxes. And as she did so her attention was drawn to two black haired girls, one fairly young and the other looking to be in her early twenties. The two looked a little overwhelmed, causing Cagali to think _ Must be their first time buying camping supplies. _. While some of her coworkers hated having to work with the newbies, not wanting to spend the time to patiently educate them on what they needed, Cagali liked these customers the best. She liked the joy of educating them and then there was the added bonus that one of these customers would often tie her up for an hour or more at times, which always looked good when the boss made his rounds, and then afterwards they tended to have very large purchases. All in all it was a good situation for her, and so seeing the pair of newbies to the outdoor world, Cagali put aside the boxes of boots she had been working with and got up to head over to where the young lady and child were browsing.

"May I be of assistance to you?" Cagali asked Luna and Hotaru as she reached the two of them, not letting any amusement show when the older of the two jumped slightly.

_ What the... _ Luna mentally cursed to herself as a woman's voice startled her out of her examination of the various tents. Spinning on her feet, Luna's eyes went wide for a moment as she saw that a blond gaijin saleswoman had apparently been able to come up behind her unnoticed. Annoyed with herself that she had missed the lady's approach, Luna hid that annoyance as she responded. "Hai you can. Sorry about being a little jumpy there, I just got so lost in trying to figure out what tent that we should get that I didn't notice you approach."

"No worries there, it happens all the time, especially for those who are seeing the various tent options for either the first time or the first time in many years. Take a break from camping and hiking for a few years and often it feels like you have to relearn everything again." Cagali replied

"Hai, I understand." Luna said, "And yes we could use your assistance."

"In that case, may I ask what items you are looking for? Or are you looking for a full refit?"

"A full refit I am afraid," Luna replied "And both Hotaru and I will need supplies." The last part Luna saying as she indicated Hotaru who was standing mostly hidden behind her.

For most of the morning, Hotaru had been letting Luna lead as she followed behind in Luna's shadow, for the courage she displayed yesterday in cutting all ties and planning on making her trek alone was non-existent when she awoke this morning. But though she had doubts in her ability to make the trek, she knew that not making the trek and was not an option and was very glad that Luna was coming with her, for without Luna she did not felt that she could take more than a few steps away before running back to ChibiUsa and her Usagi-momma. Though even with Luna beside her, she felt anyone looking at her would be able to tell that she was planning on running away.

Looking at the child hiding behind Luna, Cagali saw that the girl appeared to be quite shy and a little nervous. Figuring that the girl was nervous over going camping, Cagali knelt down so that she was at Hotaru's eye level, moving to take care of that issue quickly. "So your name is Hotaru is it? Well that is a quite pretty name there. You must be really excited about your upcoming trip."

"Hai." Hotaru replied timidly as she peaked out from behind Luna.

"Well then my name is Cagali and I am going to help you and your big sister get ready for your trip."

"Big sister?" Hotaru asked, while Luna chuckled.

"Iie, Hotaru and I are not related though we are quite close. I am a good friend of her mother, though I guess in a way you can say that I am big sister to her, even though we are not related."

"Related, not related, it doesn't really matter. All that matters is that you care for each other and you are going on this camping trip. So why don't you tell me about your trip so that I can figure out what we will need to get you." Cagali said as she stood back up.

"Well the two of us are planning to go on a backpacking trip during the next holiday and then a much longer one over summer break." Luna explained.

"Well in that case we have a fair bit or work to do, so why don't we get started." Cagali said "Now how about we start with the frame packs for the two of you. Once we have those picked out we can use their carrying capacity to help guide the rest of our selections. No reason to go pick everything else out and then find that you can't get everything into your packs." Cagali explained with a smile.

"Hai." Luna and Hotaru agreed before following Cagali over to where the frame packs were hung from floor to ceiling. Reaching up to grab one of the smaller packs, Cagali unhooked it and brought it down before Hotaru. "Hotaru why don't you give this one a try?"

_ Kawaii _ Hotaru thought as she nodded and got her first look at the pack. By chance Cagali had picked a pack with just the right shade and amount of purple to make Hotaru fall in love with it. However, that initial thought turned into one of _ umm… _ as she began looking at the pack more closely and began to notice all of the zippers and the multitude of straps that appeared to be going every which way.

And so with a little trepidation, Hotaru stepped up to the pack. But she needn't have worried, for as she got close, Cagali picked the pack up and began helping Hotaru to put it on and correctly. And then after the pack was on Hotaru's back she began to fasten the various straps, moving back and forth tugging them snug and making minor adjustments.

"Ah there we go." Cagali said when she was finally satisfied. "Now Hotaru I would like you to walk down to the end of that aisle and back."

"Ok." Hotaru said before she began to walk. At first she was a fair bit unsteady as she got used to the new weight on her back, but as she walked she began to find her body adjusting and found her steps getting easier.

"So how does that feel?" Cagali asked after Hotaru had returned.

"Strange" Hotaru replied. "Why's it so heavy. And what's this for?" The last question being asked as Hotaru began to fiddle with the waist buckle.

Smothering a chuckle over that final question, for it seemed no kid liked the belt strap of a frame pack, or at least until they had walked a few miles with a fully loaded pack and learned to appreciate it. "That Hotaru is the most important feature of the pack."

"It is?" Hotaru replied curiously.

"Hai, it is. You see that simple belt there is what will allow you to carry the pack without hurting your back." Then kneeling down beside Hotaru, Cagali grasped a hold of one of her own calf muscles and continued, "You see how much larger my leg muscles are than my arms."

"Hai."

"Well that makes them a lot stronger and in fact these are my strongest muscles so for them to carry the weight of this pack no problem. And that hip strap allows your legs to carry the pack."

"Okie," Hotaru replied, starting to understand. "Then why these?" she asked indicating the regular arm straps.

"Well if you didn't have those," Cagali began with a smile while loosening the shoulder straps all the way. "This might happen." And with that, Cagali reached up placed a hand lightly against the top of the pack and began to tilt it back away from Hotaru, which quickly caused the young girl to loose her balance.

"And I fall over backwards." Hotaru said with an equally large smile after falling over backwards into Cagali.

While Cagali hadn't meant to actually pull Hotaru over she had thankfully been able to catch the child and make the kid laugh instead of cry. Then with each of them smiling nice large smiles, she helped Hotaru back up before taking the pack off. Then after placing it down beside Hotaru, Cagali opened the top and reached in while opening a Velcro pocket against the back. And then with a tug, she yanked out one of the carbon fiber bars. Holding the bar out to Hotaru she said, "And this is why the pack is heavier than what you take to school. Unlike your school pack this one has a frame which allows you to carry more."

"Ah…" Hotaru said, not really seeing how making the pack heavier would allow her to carry more, but accepting it as one of those strange adult things that she would understand better when she grew up.

"After we are finished up here, we will need to make some measurements so that we can adjust the bars to fit you back. Then tomorrow you'll be able to pick it up and it will be already to use."

"Sugoi!" was Hotaru's reply, before she returned her attention to the pack and began examining all its various pockets.

Seeing how happy Hotaru was once again, Luna smiled slightly before turning to Cagali. "Well I guess it's my turn now."

* * *

"They should have used the appropriate channels!" Yamada exclaimed, an exclamation that was responded to by other equally vehemently agreements and disagreements.

Sighing to himself, the defense minister just watched on as the various members of this emergency meeting ranted and complained to each other. As he watched the fighting between the political appointees, each trying to make sure they didn't loose any ground, he understood completely why the Sailor Senshi had gone straight to the general on the ground. As long as they still commanded troops, you could count on the colonels and generals to cut through the political BS and due what was right. But at this level the political gamesmanship was what it was all about. And letting his subordinates fight while he pretended to listen and take heed of their complaints was also part of the process.

Finally deciding that the game had been played long enough, the defense minister said, "I don't think you have to worry about General Yamato overstepping his bounds. After all he was planning on retiring in a few years and I don't think this will change anything. And you have to remember that the Sailor Senshi are quite different than any other ally. I believe the police department even has some kind of relationship with that obscure Sailor V. But the relationship isn't at any high level, but with just a mid-level detective, and no matter what they have tried Sailor V won't work with anyone else there." The defense minister said. _ And it is not like even that that detective is on a fast track either from the reports I have read. Her file seems to indicate that she is a bit air headed at times and easily caught up in idol chasing; though, that is probably the reason why she was able to snag Sailor V in the first place. _

"But what about the R&D elements?" Yamada asked.

_ Ah yes the real reason, with money there is power. _"And that I am placing under your jurisdiction. However, I am also requesting that you work with Mr. Eriol here. I want his researchers to be fully involved." The minister said eliciting a sour face from Yamada. "Remember those Sailor Senshi use magic and only Eriol's people will have a hope of understanding that."

"Understood sir." Yamada said in defeat, not looking forward to having to work with that freak. "But can we do something about how they dress. If they are going to work well with the R&D teams, they will need to dress more normally."

"You are of course correct." The minister replied before turning to look at the wizard who was currently wearing a woman's night gown with a rain slicker and a top hat. "Eriol I would like your people to either where your traditional robes or military issued clothing worn to military standards. I don't want any of them trying to put together our clothing on their own."

"Of course minister." Eriol replied unsure of why their muggle clothing was an issue. He was sure that he had selected a perfectly good outfit for today's meeting. But then again he got many strange looks on the way in. Muggles sure had a lot of weird ways of doing things was all he could figure. And if they were going to lay out exactly what to wear that would be fine, one less thing to think about while learning all they could about this powerful magic the Senshi used.

* * *

"Hey Ami-chan hold up." Minako yelled out over the noise of students flooding out into the streets following the end of the school day.

Hearing Minako, Ami waited for the bubbly blonde to catch up. She was not really looking forward to having to deal with her friend's antics this afternoon, but neither did she have the energy to try and get away from her. But when Minako caught up with Ami, to Ami's surprise she did not begin rambling about something; instead Minako just wrapped an arm around Ami's waist and quickly began forcibly directing her away from the school.

Caught by surprise by Minako's actions, Ami tried to say "Mi…" but was quickly hushed by Minako, as the blond continued to direct her down various side streets at an ever increasing pace. Realizing that she was not going to get any answers out of her friend, Ami gave in and just followed Minako's lead.

It was nearly ten minutes later when Minako led Ami into a deserted mostly run down alley. The alley had some discarded boxes as well as a couple of over flowing dumpsters, but nothing that Ami could see that might have grabbed her friend's attention. What had attracted Minako to the alley were two very unremarkable elements of this particular alley: a discarded bench and its deserted nature. Still leading her friend, Minako brought Ami into the alley and directed her over to that discarded bench where she had Ami sit down before joining her.

"Ami-chan, I know that something has been bothering you these past few days and especially today." Minako stated.

"How…"

"It is quite obvious from the way you carry yourself." Minako explained. "Now what is…" But she never completed the question, for just breaching that question was the final straw to break the barriers Ami had tried to wrap her emotions in.

With those barriers broken, tears of sorrow, fear, and shame began to flow freely as Ami collapsed against Minako. Wrapping her arms around her friend, Minako held Ami as the young teenager let the pain she had been suppressing out. Resting her head on top of Ami's, Minako knew that she had been right to choose this secluded location to confront Ami. If others had seen Ami crying like a child, though Minako knew that to be far from the case, there would have been no healing. And as Ami cried, Minako made no move to stop her tears, instead letting Ami cry herself out.

From the shadows at the other end of the alley, Ryo watched the scene unfold while his heart yelled at him to go there and be the one to comfort Ami. But, the ancient part of his soul told him to wait. Ami needed Sailor Venus now far more than she needed him. Later after she had taken this necessary step, then he could go and comfort her. But for now, he had to stand and do nothing more than watch.

When Ami finally did cry herself out, she remained there in Minako's embrace for a little longer time while the final tears became hiccups. And with just hiccups to contend with, Ami moved to pull back away from the warmth. However, when she tried to pull out from the embrace, she found that Minako had apparently had taken lessons in comfort from Usagi, for the soldier of love did not give her that option. Instead, Minako continued to hold her distraught friend in close and returned her head to rest down on top of Ami's.

"There, there, you must be feeling better now. Holding all of that in is not good you know. It messes up the love Wa around you." Minako said, eliciting a slight giggle from Ami. "Now you don't have to tell me what is bothering you. But as your friend and your leader, I would like to be there to help you."

In the back of her mind, Ami wondered where this new found maturity of Minako's had come from. However, her analytical mindset was currently lost behind the emotional pain she was feeling. Snuggling in closer to Minako, Ami finally began to speak. "I have lost the ability to become Sailor Mercury."

Not letting her body show any alarm or undue reaction, Minako just continued to rub circles into Ami's back while now rocking her slightly. "That's okay. Don't worry; the power will come back to you when the time is right. You are still our friend."

"Arigato Minako-chan." Ami said as she began to let herself drift into the warmth of Minako's arms.

It took only a few minutes, but very quickly Ami was in a very deep sleep. Looking up from her friend, Minako smiled softly to herself while looking down the alleyway into the particular set of shadows that the phased out Ryo was watching from. "Urawa-kun you can come out now."

Retaking his human form, Ryo became visible and began walking down to where Ami and Minako sat. As he came within speaking distance he asked, "How did you know I was there?"

"You may have pledged yourself to the princess, but I still feel a slight chill when you are in my presence." Minako explained, then seeing the ashen expression on Ryo's face, she further elaborated. "It is nothing bad and it is not even noticeable when you are in your human form. Also I don't think Ami notices it all, for love will conquer all."

Nodding his head in understanding, Ryo reached Minako and sat down beside the two of them on the bench. "Minako-chan if you don't mind me asking, when did you…" Ryo started not really knowing how to ask his friend when she had suddenly matured so much.

Giving one of her trademarked Sailor V smiles, Minako waved him off. "A few weeks ago. Sailor Erion stopped me from some very destructive behavior; I was out for all hours each night looking for a way to die. If it hadn't been for her, I would either be dead or in the hospital." Minako explained, pausing briefly for what she said to sink in, an explanation which had elicited a gasp from Ryo. "I realize now that each of us has been grieving in her own way over the loss of Usagi and I don't think for any of us it is a very constructive manner.

"When Erion saved me from myself, she told me about a threat that makes what we have all just gone through look easy. Rogue Sailor Senshi led by the most powerful one of all, Sailor Galaxia are coming our way. And without Usagi, it is now my responsibility to make sure that we are ready.

"I have a meeting tonight with a detective I knew during my days as Sailor V and I am hoping she will be able to get me in touch with the police commissioner. And yesterday I met with the military. For this fight we are going to need all of the friends we can get. Tomorrow I am going to gather us all together to layout the situation. Ami might not be able to fight anymore, but that doesn't mean she is anywhere near useless, after all she still has her mind and heart." And with that Minako stood up. Walking a few steps away from the bench she turned and looked back at Ryo. "Urawa-kun, just make sure that she understands that we love her whether or not she is Sailor Mercury." And then with a henshin into Sailor V she took to the roof tops.

Watching Sailor V go, Ryo smiled to himself, knowing that Ami's greatest worry had been overcome. With the support of her friends she would be able to quickly readjust to her new situation and as morose at is might seem, he was glad in a way that they had a new enemy. Of course it would have been nice if it was a less deadly one, but at least this way Ami would have new challenges to solve, distracting her from her current condition.

Then hearing the dog's whimper, Ryo looked away from Ami and down in front of the bench and was not surprised in the least when he found the fox Youko. Bending over, he reached down and ran his fingers through the fox's neck hair. "Hey there boy, I was wondering when you would show up." _ Ami will really appreciate having her guardian dog. _ Then looking back at Ami's sleeping form, he continued "As much as I don't want to disturb her, it is time that we should start to get back. Mizuno-san will likely be calling home to check on her before too long, and we don't want to worry her again today."

Youko, who was now sitting back on his hind legs, seemed to indicate that he agreed. And so Ryo began to gently shake Ami. "Ami-chan time to wake up."

* * *

Looking over the latest intelligence reports, the Fireball princess frowned. While to some the sudden change in Galaxia's movements might have been taken as good news, after all as things stood just a few days ago, she figured that her kingdom would come under siege in just a few weeks time, but now it looked like that might be placed on hold for the indefinite future. However, she knew better. The one constant in this millennia long march for dominance by Galaxia was very careful planning.

Kakyuu was one of the few who knew the real reason why Galaxia had gone rogue. Most of the Sailor Soldiers had forgotten the legends of the previous Sailor War, the one in which they had only been just barely been able to defeat Sailor Chaos and that was only by Sailor Galaxia using her sword of sealing to seal the essence of Sailor Chaos into her own body. And while at first that move had looked like it had succeeded in ridding the galaxy of that powerful failed star Senshi, in retrospect it was only a temporary solution, for as it had turned out the sealing was not complete and slowly over the millennia, Chaos had begun to gain control. Kakyuu only hoped that by defeating Galaxia and piercing her star that they would also succeed in killing Chaos as opposed to the other outcome of setting Sailor Chaos fully loose.

She knew that the initial wave of pathetic attacks that preceded Galaxia's arrival was just Chaos exerting her influence in spreading chaos and panic. Galaxia could easily hunt down the Sailor Senshi of any given star system for she by being the galactic Senshi had a connection to all of them. But, the game of going after the civilians looking for true star seeds was Chaos's idea fun. She also realized that Galaxia's ultimate goal was the collection of every single star seed in the galaxy, for then Sailor Chaos would have won the war she had lost before and she would have the power of the true stars at her disposal. A goal which also explained why Galaxia's forces would suddenly lay off a world for a while when one of their Senshi died and wait until the replacement soldier had matured sufficiently to continue the attack.

And so it was with all this understanding of Galaxia's motives, that the Fireball princess found herself confused and very concerned with the sudden change in Galaxia's attacks. The rouge Sailor Senshi had not been seen anywhere for the past few days and then today finally word had come that they had begun to attack again. But the new attacks were all concentrated along a single ray emanating out from Galaxia's domain instead of along the entire border of her conquered worlds.

"Princess what is the concern. We should look on this as good fortune." One of her trusted Sailor Senshi said.

"No Fighter that is not the case. Something has gained Galaxia's attention, something so important that she is focusing all of her effort on it. We need to find out what that is." Kakyuu replied

"Could it be the Light of Hope?" Healer asked

"That is just a legend, there is no such thing. And if there was one, one of the other worlds would have already used it." Maker added.

"Hmm…" Kakyuu mumbled in thought as Healer and Maker's little argument sparked an idea in her mind. Maker was right in that if the Light of Hope had existed on one of the worlds it would already have been found and used. But only something like the Light of Hope could have grabbed the attention of Galaxia as such. Realizing the solution to the apparent paradox, she said "Actually you both are right."

"Huh?" came the confused reply from the three soldiers as they turned to regard their princess.

"Maker is right that the Light of Hope cannot reside on any of the Star Alliance worlds. However, over the millennia we have lost of a handful of systems from the Star Alliance due to other threats outside of Galaxia. And with our resources stretched so thin fighting Galaxia we haven't been able to recolonize those systems as of yet." Kakyuu explained before pausing in thought again some more. Finally reaching a decision, she stood and regarded her three Sailor Soldiers. "Fighter, Healer, Maker I want the three of you to split up and visit the systems along this ray. See if you can find anything that might be drawing the attention of Galaxia."

"But your highness." Fighter began.

"Don't worry about me. My life and the life of this world is forfeit unless we find out a way to stop Galaxia. This may be the Light of Hope or it may not, but it is very important that we find out. And don't worry about the Senate, I will deal with them and take responsibility. While my actions are accountable to the Senate and the Prime Minister, you actions are only accountable to me. Just make sure you are gone before I make my report to the Senate tomorrow morning."

"Understood." Healer said as the three of them saluted their princess and filed out of the command room.

* * *

"Just a moment" Mamoru called as he got up from his sofa where he had been studying his notes for tomorrow's final. Putting down the notebook, he carefully navigated through the various strewn piles of notes and text books to his apartment's entrance way. Opening the door he was surprised to find Hotaru along with a young woman there, both of whom were loaded down with a series of packages.

"Mamoru-kun, we were wondering…" Luna began but trailed off when she saw Mamoru's shocked expression.

"Luna?"

"Hai, it's me. Both Artemis and I have the ability to take human form, it was an ability that we had both forgotten, but one of which Diana had reminded me of yesterday morning." Luna explained.

"Ah." Mamoru said in understanding. "But then why did she… "Mamoru began, but then answered his own question with "Pluto."

"Hai, like ChibiUsa, Diana was not supposed to speak of the future. But now with everything different, the threat of changing the future no longer is applicable.

Mamoru nodded his understanding to Luna's explanation, "Hai that does make sense, and with all that has happened we do need to learn what we can about our abilities as fast as possible. I have not mentioned this to the others yet, but I can sense an unease brewing some where, I don't think we are going to have long to catch our breath before we are forced to fight again. But enough of that, come on in."

Picking up their various bags, this time with the aid of Mamoru, the two of them made their way into the apartment. "So what have the two of you been up to that requires so much shopping and why lug all of it over here?"

Seeing Hotaru's expression begin to get a little sullen, Luna decided to explain what the two of them were up to. She also resolved to talk to Hotaru tonight about what Mamoru had just said about a new enemy, as that statement seemed to have given Hotaru a guilty conscience. "Most likely tomorrow and if not tomorrow, the following day, the two of us will be heading out of the city on a journey."

"You haven't told the others, have you." Mamoru stated.

"No we haven't, we will leave them a note. But this is something that Hotaru needs to do herself and I know she feels guilty enough without having to explain her reasoning to the others first. You are right, something is coming. I don't know if you are sensing the same something, but in order to prepare ourselves for the coming battle, Hotaru must come to terms with her power."

"Can't she do that here?"

"Unfortunately, no. If Usagi was still here, yes I think she would be able to. But she has too many demons to work out. And she has to get away from reminders of Usagi to do this."

"Then these are the supplies for your trip."

"Hai, we were out shopping today for backpacking supplies, since we will be living on the road for the next many months. And I was hoping that you would be willing to let us use your place to prepare."

"Of course, the Tsukino household is obviously out of the question, since it would be hard to hide or explain this sudden set of purchases to Ikuko." Mamoru replied. Then turning to the nervous looking Hotaru, Mamoru asked, "Hey Hotaru, why don't you show me some of the stuff you picked up today?"

"Hai!" Hotaru enthusiastically replied. And very soon Hotaru forgot her earlier nervousness as she began modeling the various outfits they had bought for Mamoru.

While Hotaru and Mamoru went through the various purchases for the day, Luna slipped into the kitchen to prepare some tea. Coming out with a tray of three cups of tea, she couldn't help but smile to herself as she watched Mamoru with Hotaru in his lap begin to flip through some of the field books she had picked up. Feeling ashamed of herself, Luna suddenly realized that she had been blind to the best way to help ChibiUsa and Hotaru. It was not by letting the other girls and Mamoru come to see them, but by engaging the two children in activities to stimulate them. She knew that Hotaru had a slight interest in medicine, after-all she had that healing power, so she should have brought Hotaru around to Mamoru, Ami, and Mizuno-san and ask them to spend a little time talking to her about medicine. But that mistake was now unfortunately in the past and there was nothing she could do about it anymore, at least now Hotaru would have a good memory to leave with.

Looking up at the clock as she finished her thoughts, Luna was alarmed to see how late it was getting. Of course it was already in the late afternoon by the time they had started making their way over to Mamoru's place. "Mamoru-kun, would you mind if I used your phone?" Luna asked.

"Go right ahead," Mamoru said before turning his attention back to Hotaru.

Putting down her tea cup, Luna got up from the chair and walked back into the kitchen to where the phone was. Picking it up off the cradle she looked at the instrument for a few moments as she tried to remember how she was to use it. After all, this was to be her first time using a phone. As a cat, using a phone just didn't work that well. But she had watched Usagi use the device enough times to believe that she understood how to use it. As far as the phone number for the Tsukinos that was no problem, she had that memorized a long time ago. She had memorized the numbers for the parents of each of the Senshi very early on, just in case the worst was to happen. Plus at time Usagi seemed to think that she was her appointment book and would ask Luna for various phone numbers.

"Moshi moshi." came the sound of a woman's voice through the phone.

"Ikuko-san?" Luna asked

"Hai, Luna-san? So how did things go for the two of you today?" Ikuko asked referring to the excuse Luna had given for why Hotaru couldn't go to school today. She had explained that Hotaru needed a day to get her powers better under control and now that she could take human form, they really should do it now before letting any more time pass.

"Hai, everything went well. We are over now at Mamoru's place."

"And how is he doing?"

"Looks like he has been busy studying for his finals. But right now he and Hotaru are wrapped in a conversation I think that is about edible plants and wild medical herbs."

"That's good to hear, I am sure that will do both him and Hotaru good. What time do you think the two of you will be home?"

"We will probably be leaving before too long; don't want to take up too much of his studying time."

"Then I will plan on having dinner ready at 7."

"Hai, we'll be home by then." Luna said before the two of them ended the conversation and she hung up the phone.

* * *

A little after four the following day found Luna and Hotaru back at Mamoru's apartment, this time with their packs. And while Mamoru worked in the kitchen preparing the provisions that Luna had bought for the trip, Luna and Hotaru busied themselves with rolling their clothes and carefully placing them into their packs. The two of them worked in tandem, so that Luna could show Hotaru what to do at each step along the way. By the time they had finished with loading their clothes and equipment, Mamoru had come out of the kitchen with the bags of various dry foodstuffs and then those too were loaded into the packs and then with everything packed away the bags were closed.

Carefully looking around the apartment's living room, Luna carefully checked to make sure that they had not missed anything. However, the only things left out were their clothes for today, as they would not be wearing their current outfits when they headed out.

And so Luna said, "Well it looks like we are all set then." Then turning back to look at Hotaru she continued, "Hotaru-chan I would like you to henshin before putting changing." Luna said

"Nani-ka?" Hotaru replied confused as to why Luna wanted her to become Sailor Saturn.

"While with some training you would be able to carry a pack that is a third your body weight, right now you are not strong enough." Luna said alluding to Hotaru's sickly nature, the cause of which had now been rectified but her body was still very weak and young. "Also this will give you a chance to become further adjusted to your Senshi form." Luna explained.

"Hai." Hotaru said still not fully understanding the why, but understanding that it would be easier to carry the weight of the pack as Sailor Saturn, which had been something that had worried her for after all she had a hard enough time with an empty pack and they had really loaded it up with supplies. And so with that, Hotaru summoned her transformation and then quickly banished her Silence Glaive.

"Okay, now I want you to concentrate on releasing the power while still remaining Sailor Saturn."

"Huh?" was Hotaru's confused response.

"What I want you to do is be Hotaru, but as Saturn." Luna further explained, but was just met with a blank stare from Hotaru.

"Hotaru I think what Luna means is that she wants you to change from your Sailor Fuku to your regular clothes, but at the same time still remaining as Sailor Saturn."

"Ah, okie." Hotaru replied, understanding finally dawning in her eyes. Of course it was easier said then done. In all it took them just over half an hour before Hotaru was able to release the portion of the magics that gave her the fuku and disguise, but retain the added strength and situational awareness of being Saturn. And then it was a further 20 minutes until she was able to make the change regularly.

When she had finally mastered the technique, Luna had the two of them change into their clothes for the trip. Then with the hour fast approaching six, they decided that it would be best to have a final meal with Mamoru before they headed out into the night.

"Luna-chan, why are you having Hotaru learn to be Saturn without the Sailor-fuku?" Mamoru asked as they began to eat their fish.

"It will be less draining on Hotaru to not have to maintain the magics that come with her protective uniform. And yes they are protective." Luna further said as Mamoru raised an eye brow upon hearing that they relatively skimpy uniforms could be considered protective. "You have to remember with magical uniforms, the protection is not so much in the material but in the magic. And in such cases, the must important element for the physical part of the uniform is for it to be easy to move in; magic takes care of the rest."

"I guess that makes some sense." Mamoru replied.

"Additionally, it is best if Hotaru and the others could learn to live in this semi-powered up state. Like this, they are only a split second away from having their full power and they have much better situational awareness. As for why I have not asked the others to do this, they still have the need to maintain secrecy over their power. And traditionally in this stage of training a Sailor Senshi trainee will occasionally unleash their powers until they get a firm handle over everything.

"Hai, I can see that being a problem." Mamoru said as images of Ami accidentally unleashing a fog bank or Makoto a massive electric shock came to mind. As far as his own Usako, the image was of her tripping, falling, and then setting off essentially a bomb blast with the amount of magical power that she carried in herself. But he had to wonder if since the battle in the artic if that was possible anyways even if she wasn't staying powered up as Sailor Moon, for she obviously had magic running through even her powered down blood since then.

Conversation for the rest of the meal eventually drifted off to nothing, as no one wanted to address the goodbye that was coming. And then with dinner finally over, Luna and Hotaru got up from their places and said their thanks to Mamoru for the meal. Then walking over to the entryway; the two of them picked up their packs. Then removing an envelope from her subspace pocket, Luna walked over to Mamoru.

"Mamoru-kun could you please give this to the Tsukinos. The letter inside explains what the two of us are doing." Luna said as she gave the letter to Mamoru.

"Hai, you two take care."

"That we will." Luna said in response and then turning to Hotaru, she said, "Well its time to begin our journey." And with that the two of them left Mamoru's apartment. As they left, Mamoru walked over to his window and looked out to the street below. A few minutes later he saw them appear on the street and then proceeded to watch them as they walked down the street into the setting sun, all the while wondering if it might not be years before he saw those two again.

* * *

Helios, high priest of Elysian, looked out from the central tower over the fields of his realm. As he watched the growing darkness at the edge of the wards, his brow creased with worry. The excursion to the living world last night, even if it was only to a dream, had severely weakened the strength of the wards and while they were now back at full strength much damage had already been done. Before he figured he had months at least and possibly years before the wards were fully breached. But now, it looked like he had weeks at the most before the enemy was at the gates of the temple.

The risk of making the trip last night, however, was necessary for as things currently stood he held no chance of outlasting the siege. The only way to strengthen the ancient wards into an unbreakable barrier would be for his prince to fully awake to his power. With the power of the Earth fully awake, he would have been able to endlessly power the wards and to expel the invaders. But as it was, he could only buy time until they reached the castle and laid claim to the golden crystal of the earth.

Having seen enough for now, he turned away from the balcony and headed down the staircase into the temple proper. Reaching the main floor he headed for the scyring pool. While he had set into motion events that would give him more power to face this evil, he also knew that it would come too late. His only hope was to find a refuge where his spirit could take the golden crystal and hide. Stirring the waters of the pool and he began to look for a dream pure enough that he could spend the days, weeks, months, or even years that it might take for the evil to be defeated. And as he waited for the ripples in the pool to pass after which images of the candidates would appear, his thoughts turned to that of a special soul sleeping in the fields. He only hoped that the enemy focused as they were on getting his crystal would not take notice of the souls that lived in the fields and in particular that of the soul of the White Moon princess.

* * *

"Nani-ka! What do you mean Hotaru is gone?" ChibiUsa asked Ikuko. "I thought you said that Usagi was now her mom?"

"Hai, that is true. But ChibiUsa-chan that is not why she is gone. You see Hotaru left on her own. She left you this note." Ikuko said to the worried child as she pulled out the letter address to her granddaughter.

Quickly reaching out and taking a hold of the letter, ChibiUsa ripped it open. As she did so, Diana who had been standing beside her charge also confused by what was happening changed back into her kitten form and jumped up on top of ChibiUsa's head so that she could read the letter. Very quickly ChibiUsa began to tremble as she read the letter and by the time she was finished she had collapsed down into Ikuko's arms.

"Why? Why did she…" ChibiUsa chocked out between sobs, but in her distraught state was not able to complete a sentence.

Sitting down on the ground, Ikuko pulled ChibiUsa into her lap and began to rock the hurt and confused child, while Diana dropped down into ChibiUsa's lap and attempted to purr. Though for Diana that was a hard task, as she too was in shock over the letter.

"It's okay there, ChibiUsa-chan." Ikuko softly said as she rocked the crying child.

It was not till many minutes later when ChibiUsa began to finally choke back her tears and looked up at Ikuko. "Ikuko-mama why didn't she tell me, I thought I was her friend?"

"You are her friend. If you weren't she wouldn't have left you this letter. As to why she did this I do not know. But it wasn't anything you did." Ikuko said, trying to comfort ChibiUsa _ But if anything it is what I did not do. I just wasn't there for her like Usagi would have been. I was too lost in my own grief to see how much these two children were grieving and Hotaru especially. The guilt must have been unbearable for her. _ "But look on the bright side, she does have Luna with her."

"Hai, I guess." ChibiUsa said between hiccups.

"And it was Luna who guided Usagi into the warrior that she is." Ikuko said proudly. Of course she also knew that ChibiUsa was an even bigger part of how Usagi became who she was, but that would not help ChibiUsa now. Better to let the girl think for the moment that it was all Luna's doing and therefore think that Hotaru would be fine.

"Hai." ChibiUsa replied tiredly. Now that her tears had exhausted themselves she found that her body was quite tired and the warmth of her grandmother's embrace was just so cozy.

Continuing to hold ChibiUsa as the girl quieted down, Ikuko knew that the primary time of grieving for ChibiUsa was now over, but that the young warrior was no where finished grieving for the loss of her friend. She only hoped that it would not take Luna long to talk some sense into her other granddaughter. Feeling ChibiUsa's body become fully peaceful in her arms, Ikuko looked down and noticed that ChibiUsa had fallen asleep. And so with a smile on her face, but sadness in her heart Ikuko gently got up off the floor and began to carry ChibiUsa upstairs.

Dinner that night at the Tsukino household was a sullen affair with each member of the household grieving over the disappearance of the young girl who they had taken in only a few weeks ago and who had already begun to worm her way into their hearts. And for Ikuko the loss was even worse, for to her it felt like she had lost another part of her daughter.

* * *

The following morning, a Sunday morning, found the Senshi gathered at the Hikawa shrine for Minako's meeting.

"ChibiUsa-chan are you alright?" Minako asked the following morning having noticed ChibiUsa's down appearance as she arrived at the shrine. Initially Ikuko hadn't wanted to let ChibiUsa go the shrine to meet with the others, but Diana had convinced her that letting ChibiUsa go and be with the others would help her heal faster, plus they needed to know what had happened as well.

"Hotaru is gone." was all that ChibiUsa said as she took a seat.

"What do you mean gone?" asked Makoto, a question to which ChibiUsa's only response was to hold out the letter that Hotaru had left for her.

Quickly reading through the letter, Makoto wordlessly passed the note onto Minako as she tried to control her temper. It was not Hotaru that she was upset with, but Luna. She knew Hotaru was only reacting out of her loss and was too young, but Luna she should have known better. After all that chiding of Usagi to think, that fur ball went and did something far stupider than anything that Usagi had ever done. And like Makoto each of the other Senshi quickly had the same thoughts as they finished reading the letter.

Standing next to ChibiUsa, Diana watched the dark expressions cross the face of each of the others as they read the note and knew what each of them must be thinking. However, she said nothing until the last of them, Rei, had read the letter. Then when they were all fully incensed at her mother, Diana finally spoke. "Minna-san don't be upset with my mother, there was very little she could do."

Lost in her own sorrow, ChibiUsa had not realized the effect that the letter was having on her friends. Startled out of her self-blaming she looked up and gulped as she saw the anger and rage that was radiating off of the others and instantly realized what Diana was referring to. "Hai, Diana is right."

"What do you mean? Luna should have stopped Hotaru from running off!" Makoto demanded.

"Iie, she couldn't."

"What do you mean?" Ami asked hoping to derail the building confrontation.

"As ChibiUsa's guardian, I am to watch over her and make sure that I am there when she needs me, no matter what. To do that I have to be with her even when she is being bad and I am never to tattle on her." Diana explained.

"Ah I understand." Ami said. "It's the same thing as client-lawyer or patient-doctor privilege. And to make sure that ChibiUsa doesn't leave you behind when she does something she knows you won't approve of, you are limited to only trying to guide her and then following her no matter what choice she makes."

"Hai." Diana replied.

"Well I guess that makes some sense." Haruka said, still obviously not pleased with what had happened but no longer planning on seeing how many ways that she could skin a cat.

"Let's just hope then that Luna can convince Hotaru to return before too long." Rei said, as she made a mental note to use the Sacred Fire to see if she could locate those two.

With that said, Minako let ChibiUsa and Diana finally sit down and partake in some of the snacks. As they did, Minako's mind was already whirling over what this might mean for the upcoming war. Even though, they hadn't fought with Hotaru as one of their members yet, Minako knew that this loss would still hurt them. They were already weak without Usagi or Pluto and needed all the help they could get. And that did not take into account at all the emotional effect this was going to have on them. Already, her mood had turned south again and she knew that if it wasn't for the pending danger Sailor V would be back on the scene again. Looking over at Sailor Erion, she received a look of support and knew that it was time to move to the task at hand.

"Minna-san, the reason why I called this Senshi meeting was because of some other news that I have. I know we are all hoping that with the defeat Rubeus that we could retire to lead regular lives. Unfortunately, that is not the case." Minako said, and then turning to look at Sailor Erion who sat not far from her, she gestured at the extra-Solar Senshi "Sailor Erion if you could."

"Thank you Venus." Erion replied as she straightened up. "As I am sure you are all aware, when I first arrived here I arrived as your enemy and it was not until I held Sailor Moon's Star Seed that I became free of my shackles." When she mentioned about first arriving as an enemy, Haruka grunted and both she and Michiru grimaced as they remembered that very unpleasant battle up in the Crown Fruit Parlor where things had quickly gone to hell in a hand basket. Thankfully though, Haruka did not make any comments, and Erion was able to continue on uninterrupted. "You see when I first arrived here my actions were under the control of Sailor Galaxia, next to your Sailor Moon she is the most powerful Senshi. I have watched her take on and easily defeat an entire world's complement of Sailor Senshi.

"I do not know what turned Galaxia dark; I can only guess that it has something to do with the first Sailor War, for while she had fought on the light side during that war, she also vanished shortly there after. To many she had even become a legend and it took many centuries after the current war started before we realized that it was Galaxia behind it.

"As for her objective, it is simple; she is looking to collect the soul of every Senshi in existence. Why I do not know, all I do know is that every soul that she collects makes her even stronger.But even worse than that is that after taking the soul of a Senshi, she can bind the body of that Senshi to her will with the use of golden gauntlets. I do not pretend to understand how they work or how it interplays with their soul, but know this, Galaxia employs enslaved Sailor Senshi who are ruthless and are incapable of disobeying Galaxia."

Noticing that Erion was starting to have trouble controlling her emotions, Minako knew that it was time for her to take over. "The reason why we are telling you this is that within the next couple of years Galaxia will attack Earth. Erion knew about Usagi, because to her she had just attempted to steal Usagi's star seed during Galaxia' attack on the Earth. And without Usagi or Pluto and now it appears Saturn as well, we are going to be in a much weaker position for dealing with this threat. And furthermore, it is possible that the battle between Usagi and Hotaru may set things into motion to happen faster."

"But why should that…" Ami began but was cut off by Rei.

"Usagi's aura. When she awoke from the shattering of the crystal, her aura was immense.The awakening of that much power would have been felt everywhere."

"Hai, Rei is right." Michiru added. "I can feel a restlessness in the waves now and echoes of the awakening from all living things, both here on Earth and across the galaxy."

"But how is that possible, nothing can travel faster than light?" Ami asked, trying to once again reconcile magic with science.

"That is true for matter and non-magical energy does travel at the speed of light. However, magic has its own set of rules and magic as powerful as that of Sailor Moon's would have been felt everywhere at the same time." Erion explained

"But…" Ami started but was cut off by Ryo placing a finger to her lips. Turning to look at him, annoyed that her rant had been cut off; Ryo tried desperately to hide his chuckle. Unable to do so, he chose the wisest alternative which was to pull Ami into a hug, thereby derailing her thought process as the shy girl blushed.

"Why don't you see if that computer of yours has some information on magic theory first?" Ryo said softly to Ami, finally fully placating her scientific mind.

Smiling at the love between the two, Minako was very happy that Ami had been able to find someone to stand beside her. "Now as I was saying, both Erion and I believe that we are going to be facing Galaxia much sooner than we would have had to otherwise. However, at the same time, because of Erion we know that she is coming and we can prepare ourselves for the coming battle. To that end we are going to need to begin some heavy training. Artemis I would like you to work with Erion and Ami on setting up a schedule for that.

"We also will not be going into this fight alone. I am in the process of securing an alliance with the national defense forces so that we can have a coordinated response. Once I have finalized the terms of the alliance we will need to integrate training exercise with the JDF and I will work with their commanders on developing combined tactics." Minako explained. Then turning to ChibiUsa, she continued, "Your highness I would also like your permission to have Ami work with the JDF's R&D people to develop weapons using Silver Millennium technology for use in the upcoming war."

"Me? Why are you asking me?" ChibiUsa asked, confused.

"Because with Usagi incapacitated, you are the head of our government." Minako began explaining.

"Great if having an airhead for a ruler wasn't bad enough, we now are being led by just a nine year old." Rei grumbled quietly to herself, but loud enough to be heard by all. However, they all knew by her tone that she didn't really mean what she said.

"And as such, anything that is not strictly military I have to get your permission for." Minako explained, having had Artemis explain the rules to her last night.

"But why don't you need to…" ChibiUsa began to ask, but was caught off by Minako already answering the question.

"As you are only effectively nine years old, there normally would be a regent making these decisions. But as it is just us, the military decisions are therefore placed in my hands while it takes are joint agreement for non-military items."

"Oh" ChibiUsa said, a sentiment that was echoed by the rest of the girls and two guys in the room. None of them had really thought about the fact that while they were Japanese citizens they were also the only surviving elements of a nation and as such there was protocol to follow in dealing with state levels affairs. It was much easier when their only function as a nation was to fight a solo war against evil. But now that they needed to start dealing with at least the Japanese government, they would need to begin following protocol if they wanted to be taken seriously.

"Commander Venus, her highness will review the merits of your proposal and thanks you for your foresight." Diana said for ChibiUsa.

"Yeah what she said." ChibiUsa added, knowing that Diana was going to give her a refresher protocol lesson tonight and thankful that Luna was not around as otherwise it would have been a lecture. While ChibiUsa did know the protocol rules, after all she had both her lessons in the future and her recent lessons along with Usagi with Haruna-sensei and Luna; she had a hard time with her mother and the Sailor Senshi being both normal girls and royalty. Consequently, freed from the constraints from palace life here in the past and enjoying being able to be a normal girl along with the others she had forgotten that the protocol rules, subsequent to the requisite exceptions for keeping their identities a secret still applied here.

Being back here in the past before her mother ascended to the throne ChibiUsa could be forgiven

"There is one other matter that needs to be brought up." Minako said, drawing the attention of the others once again. From where she sat, Ami's expression turned glum as she had a good idea of what this matter was. However, she was quickly comforted by Ryo as he wrapped an arm around her. "Unfortunately we are down not just three Senshi as we had originally thought, but four."

"Huh?" came the confused reply from everyone else.

"Minako, what do you mean, we are all here." Rei stated getting concurring nods from all but Ami and Ryo.

"Hai that is true. But, Ami appears to also have been affected in some manner by the incident. How we are not sure yet. But what we know is that she can no longer henshin."

"Na…" Haruka began to try to ask what, but was quickly silenced by an elbow into her gut from Rei. Michiru, who reacted a few seconds slower than Rei, understood why the priestess had done what she had done, and placed a calming hand on Haruka's shoulder getting the other girl's attention and then silently indicated to her that she should remain quiet. As far as Makoto, ChibiUsa and Diana they were simply stunned by Minako's announcement and Erion just remained silent.

Moving quickly on from her elbowing of Haruka, Rei got up and moved in front of Ami where she then knelt back down. Then taking a hold of Ami's hands, she said "Ami you are still one of us even if you were to fully loose your powers."

"Hai." Ami said, her conversation with Minako the other day keeping her spirits strong and then Rei's reaction giving her hope for the first time.

"Us three, Usagi drew into her circle of friends not because we were Senshi but because she wanted to be our friend, it was only afterwards that we found out that we were Senshi." Rei said indicating her, Ami and Makoto. "And if we hadn't been Senshi she would still have made us her friends just like Naru and Umino.

"Now as to why you have lost your powers, I would like you to stay here with me after the meeting so that I can ask the Great Fire for assistance. And even if it has no answers you still have your training."

"Nani-ka?" Ami asked.

"Hai, remember it was you who found the location of that first hidden energy collector and discerned the threat to Usagi. You have a strong potential and I want to help you learn how to bring it out."

"But, I am…" Ami tried to say, but was cut off by Makoto.

"Ami-chan, you are the smartest kid our age, but sometimes you miss the most obvious things. We all now that your mind is very rooted in science and that you aren't anywhere as religious as Rei here. But you have come to accept the presence of magic and worked it into your world view. And being scientifically minded has not posed a problem with you being able to use magic and has helped us quite a bit in the past."

"Hai, and while you won't be the typical student of my grandfather's shrine, you won't be any less a student either." Rei said.

Realizing that this was one fight that she was not going to win and also now remembering about Youko and the lethal game she was going to be playing against that demon for the rest of her life, Ami gave in and agreed. And with that taken care of the business portion of the gathering ended, allowing them to chat as just friends for a while before breaking up to go their ways. And as her friends began leaving, Ami stood beside Ryo in the room until it was just the two of them and Rei left in the room. And then giving Ami a kiss, Ryo left.

Coming up beside Ami Rei said, "Ami tonight I just want to look at your aura, tomorrow we will continue your training from before."

"Hai." Ami replied with a smile and then proceeded to follow Rei to the room which housed the fire.

Once they arrived in the room with the fire, Rei had Ami sit down on the ground facing away from the fire but as close to the fire as the girl was comfortable sitting. Then with Ami set, Rei knelt down herself, kneeling so that her knees were touching those of Ami's.

"Ami-chan do you remember those meditation exercises I had you use the day you controlled the fire?"

"Hai, I do."

"Good I would like you to use those. Just run through them one after the other but this time don't try to focus on anything in particular. Just try to feel your inner self and remained centered there."

"Ok." Ami replied before taking a deep breath and beginning the process of letting her baggage of the day slip away from her body as she began the exercises.

And as Ami began her descent into tranquility, Rei began her own focusing exercises as she first calmed her spirit and then began to open herself to the presence of the fire. Then once the fire of her soul had become enmeshed with that of the Great Fire, she directed her thoughts forward towards where Ami sat just in front of her. Feeling Ami's presence she did not try to delve into the presence, but instead she let her expanded senses flow around Ami. And as she did so, she began to find shape in Ami's shadow on the spiritual plane.

Ami's presence on the spiritual plane had the traditional spark of life and a powerful influence of her intelligence. Buried and hidden away, as was the case with all of the Senshi when they were powered down, was the pulsing power of her connection to Mercury. That connection being what Rei was looking for, she now focused her thoughts and let her mind's eye reach out and touch that core of inner strength. And as she did so, the sensation Rei felt was like slipping her hand into a cool mountain spring. Feeling the vitality of Ami's core, Rei let more of her own essence slip inside until she felt like she was standing under a waterfall.

Sometime later Rei began to break the connection, pulling herself back to the real world. As her senses slowly returned to her, she realized that she had never tried this when any of the other Senshi and wondered what their cores felt like. And as she began to review what she had just felt, she hoped that Ami would be amicable to letting her try this again, for it felt like her spirit had been cleansed by the cool mountain water that was Ami's soul. Opening her eyes for the first time since she had begun her meditations she looked at Ami and was stunned by what she saw.

* * *

Running through the meditations that Rei had told her to use, Ami had very quickly dropped back into the trance she had used to locate the hidden daimon crystal. Finding herself once again in the pool of water that was Mercury, Ami felt her stress and fears ebbing away. Once she was fully relaxed, she opened her eyes to see that she was not alone; Youko was also in the water with her, doing the doggie paddle. Unable to help herself, she giggled.

"Glad to see that you are feeling better pup." Youko said as he swam up to Ami.

"Gomen, couldn't help myself." Ami said, apologizing for laughing at the fox demon.

Now nuzzling up against Ami's body, Youko replied, "After what you have been through, you need all the laughs you can get. Your guardian spirit may be a seasoned warrior, but you are just a child and are not ready to face these hardships."

"I just wish I knew why I can't become Sailor Mercury anymore." Ami said as she grabbed a hold of the silver fox and wrapped her body around him, feeling the warmth of his fur on her bare skin. Looking down in his eyes, she saw a look that gave her confidence that she would eventually be able to work out this problem. But for now, she decided that that did not matter. She was being refreshed by the cool pure water of Mercury while holding a very cuddly fox in her arms. So comfortable was she that the fact that she was naked and holding an intelligent male demon never crossed her mind.

_ Hmm… what is this? _ Ami thought to herself as she felt the water begin to warm from its original frigid state. Not bothered by the ever increasing temperature, she instead began to giggle as the boiling water tickled her body. Then letting go of Youko she stepped away from the fox and spread out her arms before spinning in the fine steam that her water bath had become. _ Rei. This has to be Rei's doing. _ Ami thought to herself with a smile before returning to her dance.

* * *

As their minds were enveloped in the metaphysical reality of Ami's Senshi power, their bodies also responded to the channeling of powerful energies. On the foreheads of either girl their sigils glowed brightly, while ribbons of energy snaked around their bodies. At times the energy bands would break away and in Ami's case disintegrate into what looked to be snow or in Rei's case climbed away from her body as flame.

Rei's grandfather had felt the vibrations that echoed from the two girl's clumsy attempt at connection. Walking quietly into the room he was taken back to see the two of them encased as they were in the magical and spiritual energies that they were channeling. He had known for a while that his granddaughter had a large reservoir of spiritual energy at her finger tips for she was able to easily due what took masters decades to master. But he had not till now truly realized how deep that well was, nor had he realized that her quiet and studious friend had a well just as deep.

_ She is now beyond my teaching. I can only hope that I have taught her well enough that she and her friends can walk the path that the kami have laid out for them. _ Grandpa Hino thought to himself before turning and walking out of the shrine and into the courtyard. Once out in the courtyard he walked over to the steps and looked down them to the street below. _ Rei I know you don't know the seriousness of what you have just done or its consequences. But I can no longer help you; you have surpassed what I can teach you. But I know that you will do fine, just as long as you keep that temper of yours in check. _ And with those thoughts, he turned away from the steps and headed to the shrine office, there were things that now needed to be set into motion.

* * *

When Rei finally ended her meditations and became aware of her surroundings again, she was startled to see Ami glowing brightly. And with their past experience with magic overloads it is probably not surprising that Rei's initial thoughts were _ Oh hell, not again. _ as she brought her arms up while turning her body away from what she thought was a pending explosion. But when none was immediately forth coming, she was able to sigh a breath of relief and realize that what she was seeing was just the energy of Mercury being allowed to freely flow around Ami's body. _ Well that definitely answers the question of whether or not there is any problem with her powers. _ Rei thought to herself, having already decided that Ami's powers were fine. _ Now the question is how to wake her up, somehow I don't think shaking her would be a good idea. Not unless I want to risk being flash frozen. _

But Rei never got a chance to ponder that thought for any length of time for Ami began to blink her eyes open, almost as she had heard the unvoiced request to awake. Stretching her body, Ami slowly became aware of the fire room again. Still not fully alert, Ami's eyes fell on Rei and then with a sudden burst of speed which was out of sync with her previous slow movements she had glomped onto Rei, knocking the black hair girl down in the process.

Taken by surprise, Rei never saw the glomp coming and the next thing she was aware of was looking up at the ceiling with a slight pain in her head with a warm body hugging her. "Ooh what happened?" was the most coherent thing that Rei could say.

As far as Ami, she was not much better off than Rei for the first few moments following the impromptu glomp. But Rei's question of pain managed to finally kick start Ami's higher brain functions and she quickly began to blush upon realizing what she had done. Picking herself backup and then holding out a helping hand to Rei she said, "Gomen-nasai Rei-chan, don't know why I did that."

"Its okay. Just give me a little more warning next time. I was still not sure if you had fully recovered from your meditations or not when you hit me."

"Why should that matter?" Ami asked, wondering why Rei just didn't shake her.

"Well unlike last time, this time you were visibly channeling the powers of Mercury and by the way I think that you will be fine, you just need to give your mind time to recover."

"You think so?" Ami asked her voice very hopeful.

"Hai."

"Arigatoo Rei-chan!" Ami enthusiastically replied before once again glomping onto Rei and sending the two of them back to the floor, though this time rolling towards the fire. And as such the glomp was quickly ended with Ami yelling "Hot!" and jumping up as an ember fell into her hair.

Reacting quickly, to Ami's yelp of pain, Rei shot out an arm and grabbed a hold of the Ami and pulled her back down so that she could take a look at the damage. "Don't worry your hair was just scorched slightly in one hard to notice spot and it doesn't look like your skin was burned."

"Thanks Rei and sorry about that." Ami said.

"Don't worry about it." Rei replied, "I think I would have been just as enthusiastic as you if I had been in your place." And then as their stomachs both grumbled, Rei glanced down at her watch and was quite surprised to see how late it had gotten. "And now how about lunch, its almost one already."

"Hai." Ami agreed, now feeling quite hungry herself and also quite surprised by how late it had gotten. It had only felt like she had been in that trance for but a few minutes.

* * *

-End Chapter 1

Cue SD Characters and Scenery 

Now with an evil smile, as he (err she) now had the upper hand, Q prepared to unleash his first attack at the hoard of advancing inmates. When the group had closed to within just a two arms length of her, Q while reaching out her right hand and moving it in an arc in front of her body cast her spell: "Unicorns on Parade." And as she did so, white light burst out from her gloved hand, light which quickly formed into six miniature unicorns.

_ Okay… _ were Q's only thoughts as he saw the initial effects of his spell. He had been hoping for something a bit more dramatic like a ball of lighting or maybe one of Pluto's nasty spells, not a half dozen unicorns with ribbons in their manes. However, he needn't have worried for soon after being summoned the unicorns began marching in a circle around Q at an ever increasing speed and once they began to trot, they each lowered their heads so as to impale anyone who might try to breach the circle. _ Okay maybe this isn't such a bad attack after all _ Q thought as the unicorns became just a blur. Then looking up at the inmates, Q asked, "Who wants shish kabob tonight?"

Wisely, the inmates decided that this strange girl / man wasn't worth their time and began to slowly back away before turning tail and running as fast as they could. Seeing the inmates run away, Q debated for a few minutes in following them, but quickly decided against it and instead used his Sailor powers to leap out from the prison walls, which of course trigged the jail break alarms.

Landing outside the walls, Q found herself waist deep in a drainage ditch filled with smelly water. "ChibiChibi you better be enjoying yourself up there!" Q yelled as he pulled himself up and out of the drainage ditch, sure that Cosmos had orchestrated this whole affair. While Q had a fairly good idea of why he was in his current predicament he had no idea of what he was supposed to do about it. He guessed that he could try to go hook up with the rest of this cheerleading squad, but he had a feeling that he was a long way from Japan, given that the prisoners did not look Asian and were further speaking English.

However, Q didn't have to think long on what his next act was to be, as not long after getting out of the ditch and drying himself off he heard the barking of dogs. Turning to look at the direction of the dogs, he gulped as he saw guards with shot guns and viscous looking dogs approaching. Then suddenly getting a flash of a possible future that involved him being mauled by said dogs, Q muttered "Oh hell" before sprinting off into the distance.

Not bothering to look back, Q headed north as fast as he could. Five miles later, Q came across the edge of a cliff beside an interstate highway and without even pausing leapt into the air. Deciding it was time to curse Cosmos once again, he yelled out, "Curse you Cosmos; because of you I have seen hell." And with those words he once again became his normal self and promptly plummeted out of the sky. Though, thankfully his fall was broken by a passing open top garbage truck.

Once Q surfaced, he decided that he wasn't going to tempt fate again and instead just let his body plop down on top of the garbage as he instead let his mind think of ways to get back at Cosmos.

-End chapter

Author Notes:

- First off, I want to give thanks to Stratagemi who is now prereading my chapters. Besides catching the minor typos and grammatical errors, he is helping me to keep my story correctly aligned with the basis mythology of Sailor Moon and to keep track of some of the minor plot threads.

- As you may have gathered from the end piece, Q won't actually become a player in the story. Instead he will be having his fun in America dealing with ChibiChibi's pranks and counting down the days till Usagi awakes and visits the Gate of SpaceTime.

- For those who are not quite understanding the Cosmos-ChibiChibi-Usagi situation, here is an attempt at an explanation. ChibiChibi, is a form that Usagi can take once she comes into her Sailor Cosmos powers. In this form she is not constrained by certain rules, but she has other limitations due to her age and acts more on instinct than thinking things out. One of the biggest advantages of this form is that she can coexist in the time stream with Usagi or a Time Guardian without complications. Additionally, as Usagi has not reached the point where she can become ChibiChibi, the ChibiChibi that is currently playing around at the Gate of SpaceTime is from the future.

- Before anyone flames me with regard to messing up Sailor Stars, let me point out that as of currently in my story Sailor Galaxia has not attacked the home world of Fighter, Healer, and Maker. Consequently, their princess has not gone into hiding nor have they had to face the horrors of fighting against the possessed Sailor Senshi or the corrupted souls or their own populace.

- Now for some nice time wasters. I don't have any new fiction to recommend. However, I would highly recommend watching "Millennium Actress" and "Voices of a Distant Star" both are very high quality anime (the first is a full length movie and the second is a 25 minutes short). And while we are on the topic of time anime, has anyone noticed that the Gundam W trailer on the Escaflowne DVDs is the Toonami promo for the show, complete with the Toonami / Cartoon Network bumper and show times :). Given the quality of the other Gundam trailers that I have seen on DVDs, I am glad that they used the Toonami promo, but still it was amusing to see the toonami promo again.


	3. Chapter 2: Moments of Transition

**The Fragility of Time**  
**BOOK THREE: "Star Dust Memories"**  
**Chapter 2: Moments of Transition**  
**Author: etj4Eagle**  
Email: etj4Eagle at yahoo (com)  
Email2: etj4Eagle at fanfiction (net)   
http/ 12/6/05  
Last Edit: 12/6/05

Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story, all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only so freely and inform me of where you post it.

Arriving home exhausted after another late night at the hospital, Mizuno-san headed first to her kitchen. Picking up the tea kettle, she filled it with water before placing in on the stove and turning on the gas. As she waited for the water to boil, she got herself a mug and a tea bag. Hearing the whistle of the boiling water, she removed the kettle and poured the water into her mug. Then as she let the tea steep, she carried the cup to the dining room table and glanced briefly through the mail, which Ami had sorted earlier in the day, but did not find anything that required her attention this evening.

Once the tea bag had steeped long enough, she turned out the lights and taking her cup, headed up the stairs to check on Ami before going to bed. Opening the door to her daughter's room, she found that her daughter had once again fallen asleep while working, this time though at least in her bed and not at her desk. With quiet footsteps, she walked over to the bed and began the task of picking up the various books, notes, pens, and one computer that were haphazardly strewn about the bed. The Mercurian computer was the first item she retrieved, for it was currently located just behind Ami's left foot and only a half dozen centimeters from being kicked off the bed.

How that little computer managed to survive Ami's less than ideal treatment of it, Rikou had no idea. It was not that Ami intentionally mistreated the computer and when she was awake, Ami took very good care of both her computer and her various books. No, it was Ami's habit of getting too wrapped up in a problem to break for sleep that posed the danger to the computer. Many times in years past, Rikou had come home from work to fine that Ami had fallen asleep either at her desk or in her bed with books strewn about. On each of those occasions, Rikou had gathered up Ami's study materials, put them away and then tucked her daughter into bed.

Having now gathered up the last of Ami's study materials, Rikou briefly glanced at the equations and diagrams that drawn in her daughter's notebook shaking her head at how far out of her league those equations were before closing the notebook and placing it on the desk. _ I knew that there would come a day when Ami's thirst for knowledge would push her into areas far beyond my understanding one day, but I never thought it would occur while she was still in Junior High. Kami, I haven't felt such so clueless in looking at that notebook since I the first time I opened a calculus book. _ Rikou thought to herself before turning back to the bed.

Returning to the bed, she double checked to make sure she had gotten all of her daughter's study materials off of the bed. Seeing nothing, she took a hold of the blankets on Ami's bed, and then carefully lifting them up from under Ami, she laid them instead on top of her. Once that was done, she tucked the blankets in around Ami and leaned down to give her daughter a kiss on her forehead. Then straightening back up, she picked up her cup of tea and took some sips as she watched her daughter sleep peacefully.

As she watched Ami sleep, Rikou thought back to how troubled Ami's sleep was just a couple of weeks ago and was very glad that Ami's friend, Rei, had been able to help Ami finally come to terms with the loss of her first real friend in years. Watching her daughter grieve had been hard on Rikou. As a doctor she had seen what losing a loved one could to do, and Rikou knew that Ami very much loved Usagi. A love that she knew was not romantic, but just as powerful. If it had not been for the unique circumstances of the situation she would have arranged for Ami to see one of her colleagues, but that was not an option here. And so Rikou was left knowing what her daughter was going through and what it could do to her but not knowing how to help her. Thankfully, just as Rikou was reaching her wits end and was ready to reveal the secret that Ami and Usagi had trusted her with to another, Rei had stepped in and somehow turned Ami's outlook around. And, now with her mood drastically improved, Ami had once again returned to burning the midnight oil as she plumbed the depths of science and magic.

* * *

Deep inside the temple of Elysian, the realm's guardian was racing against the clock. Two days ago the last of the once golden fields had fallen under Neherenia's shadow and now those who slept in the fields as well as those who dreams broke into the realm slept in nightmares. However, as bad as that was, it could have been worse for those souls who inhabited the fields. But Neherenia had no interest in the souls of the dead, instead she was only interested in the power that had been entrusted to Helios to guard until the day that his prince was ready to summon his birthright. Of course if Neherenia had known that the White Moon princess lay asleep in the fields, things would have been different and Helios would have been powerless to protect that precious soul. But Neherenia did not know and so for the last two days her forces had laid siege to the temple itself while ignoring the fields.

The wards on the temple proper were the most powerful of the wards in Elysian and against a less powerful enemy would have held up indefinitely. Even Zirconia, FishEye, TigersEye, and HawksEye by themselves would have required a siege of years to penetrate the wards. It was the presence of the other half of the assault team that tipped the scales such that the wards began failing almost immediately and it was only a testament to the power of the wards that they had been able to survive two days against the assault of CereCere, JunJun, VesVes, and PallaPalla. With the wards tied as they were to his body, Helios knew how close they were to failing and with that knowledge he stirred the scrying pool while hoping for just a few more minutes. But those few minutes did not come for at that moment the wards collapsed.

As the waters of the pool resettled, an image of a sleeping pink haired child formed, a child who appeared to be tossing in her sleep. Frowning, Helios suspected that the young girl was suffering from another nightmare. If it had not been for the child's connection to the Sailor Senshi and her own link to the Earth, Helios would have looked for another refuge due to these nightmares. However, as the case was she was the perfect refuge for his soul, even if her dreams were troubled. The pain of hiding in the troubled dreams was a small price to pay for the safety of the Golden Crystal.

Noticing that the waters of the pool had finally stilled, Helios began the spell to open the doorway to the girl's dreams. As he spoke the words, the waters of the pool began to glow a golden yellow as the image of a palace and a silver-haired, winged woman began to replace the image of the child. Finishing the spell, the spell, Helios did not have a chance to view his refuge's dream for just as he finished the spell, the door to the chamber was blown off of its hinges.

Racing through the bowels of the temple following the collapse of the wards, PallaPalla had simply blasted any door that she found in her way, not bothering to try to open of them. It was a strategy that served her well, for if she had stopped to open even one of those closed doors instead of barreling ahead at full speed she would have missed Helios. As it was, she was just in time to see the priest transform the golden horn on his head back into the Golden Crystal.

Not paying attention to PallaPalla's arrival, Helios with the Golden Crystal now in his hands called forth its power as he began the final spell of refuge. Seeing the crystal glow brightly for a moment, PallaPalla reacted on instinct and fired off a quick counter spell at Helios as she dodged out of the way of what she expected to be his attack.

Rolling back up onto her feet, PallaPalla was surprised that no attack had come. Looking over at her foe to see why he had not attacked, she saw that while her own attack had hit home, he was still chanting the initial spell. Confused, PallaPalla prepared to use a more powerful spell. However, she never got the chance, for just as she was beginning to prep her attack, Helios finished the final verse of his spell.

With the spell finished, the crystal gave a final pulse of light before turning back into a golden horn. However, this time the horn was not attached to the head of the priest. Instead, the crystal was carried away from the body of Helios as his spirit, bathed in golden light, slowly emerged from inside. Once fully split from his body, Helios's spirit turned its head and looked at PallaPalla as the golden glow died down to reveal a white Pegasus. Then turning its head back to the pool, the Pegasus walked forward a few steps as it gave its wings a few test flaps. Then apparently satisfied with their functionality, Pegasus used them to take to the air and then plunged down into the pool.

Watching this all unfold, PallaPalla was stunned into silence and it was only the sound of Helios's body crumbling to the ground that brought her back to the here and now. Realizing that she had let the Golden Crystal slip through her fingers, PallaPalla ran up the edge of the pool. Reaching out her hand, she was only met by water as the image of a receding golden dream mirror finished fading from view. Turning back from the pool, she walked over to the priest's body and gave it a kick in its side for the headache she now faced. Zirconia was not going to be pleased that she had let Helios escape and she knew that the punishment that was going to be handed out to her and her "sisters" was not going to be a pleasant one. Picking up the priest's unconscious body, she slung it over her shoulder and began her trek back up to the main levels of the temple. _ And of course Zirconia is going to send the Amazon Trio out after that Pegasus instead of us as further punishment, letting them get the honor for Neherenia! _

* * *

With the morning sun beginning to stream in through her attic window, ChibiUsa glared bleary eyed at her alarm clock. While part of her wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, ChibiUsa only considered that option for a moment, to go back to sleep would mean that she would risk the return of the nightmares. While they were not as often as they were the first few weeks, they were still there and now they had begun to merge with her old nightmares of being Black Lady. After all, her subconscious figured that if it hadn't been for her, Usagi would still have been alive. Pushing those thoughts aside ChibiUsa swung her legs out of the bed, knocking Diana to the floor in the process.

"Hey! Watch it there." Diana called out to her charge as she was crawled out from under the blankets.

"Oops. Sorry about that Diana-chan." ChibiUsa apologized as she picked the blankets back up. "Though, I thought cats were supposed to be graceful."

"We are. But it's not possible to be graceful when you are falling surrounded by blankets." Diana replied as she shifted into her human form and wearing a cream and mouse themed set of pajamas.

"I guess you do have a point." ChibiUsa conceded as she began to change out of her own bunny pajamas and into her school uniform.

As ChibiUsa was getting dressed her mind kept drifting back to her dreams from the night before. While she did have the standard nightmares there was also something else there as well, a new dream. She wasn't quite sure what it was only that she had a feeling that her dreams would be a little better starting tonight, almost as if her dad was able to watch out over her dreams.

"You all set?" Diana asked, breaking ChibiUsa out of her thoughts.

"Yep, let's go get breakfast." ChibiUsa relied as she put the finishing touches on her odangos.

Heading down the staircase, the two girls headed first to Usagi's room where Diana waited outside while ChibiUsa went inside for her morning visit and prayer with her mother. As was the case every morning, ChibiUsa cried for a few moments as she told her mother's sleeping form that she loved her and asked Usagi to watch over Hotaru. The same ritual was again repeated in the evening before going to bed with some additional time to tell Usagi about her day. And if something special happened during the day, such as getting a test back, ChibiUsa would immediately head upstairs to show Usagi before showing it to Ikuko.

When the two girls finally arrived downstairs a few minutes later, it was to find Kenji tending to breakfast instead of Ikuko.

"Where's Ikuko-mama?" ChibiUsa asked.

"She's sleeping in; she's not feeling well this morning." Kenji replied as he began to fix breakfast for ChibiUsa and Diana. "But don't worry, it's probably just a 24 hour bug and she should be fine tomorrow." he added, wanting to make sure ChibiUsa did not start to worry.

"Hai." ChibiUsa replied, somewhat assured.

"Just have to make sure that Minako doesn't find out." Diana remarked, which caused both ChibiUsa and Shingo to start laughing.

"Hai, I don't think our house can take the abuse of nurse Venus again." Kenji replied with a chuckle before placing breakfast down on the table for the two girls.

Sitting down himself, Kenji opened the day's paper and began to read the morning articles while he ate his breakfast and absently listening to the conversation amongst the three children. Hearing ChibiUsa mention Hotaru's name in a sad voice, Kenji looked up from the paper to see how ChibiUsa was doing, something he had been doing since Hotaru ran away whenever her name came up. He could see the hurt that his granddaughter was feeling, as was to be expected. But as had been the case for the past week, that hurt was showing to be manageable and he saw no indication that ChibiUsa might emotionally breakdown as she had the first few days whenever Hotaru's name had come up.

In returning to his paper, his thoughts, triggered by Hotaru's name, turned to cataloging all of the errors that he and Ikuko had made following the loss of Usagi, errors which he was sure had led to Hotaru running away. Their own sorrow in loosing their daughter had blinded them to the full extent of the pain that the two girls were feeling and in trying find solace by keeping things as unchanged as possible, they had not seen how keeping Hotaru and ChibiUsa in Usagi's room was doing those two severe emotional harm. And even though Usagi primarily took care of ChibiUsa and could read the girl's emotional state far better than they could, ChibiUsa wasn't that different from Usagi at that age, so they should have realized how much ChibiUsa was hurting. And, to a degree they did realize that ChibiUsa was hurting and they had talked about needing to keep an eye on her, but at the same time hoping that Hotaru's presence would help ChibiUsa's healing.

What they had not realized was the degree of guilt that Hotaru felt over what had happened. When Usagi's friends had described the battle, they had not truly conveyed the ferociousness of the fight between Usagi and the possessed Hotaru and so Ikuko and Kenji had not realized that Hotaru had felt directly responsible for what had happened to Usagi. And because she felt directly responsible for Usagi's condition, she also had not felt deserving of the support of the Tsukino family, ChibiUsa, the cats, or the Sailor Senshi. Hotaru's running away had given the two of them a needed wakeup call, breaking them out of their own sorrow and opening their eyes to what was happening with their family.

Now finally realizing how detrimental it was to have ChibiUsa stay in Usagi's room, they had decided to transform the attic into a bedroom and move ChibiUsa there. With this change being so long overdue, Kenji took two days of vacation from work to perform the necessary renovation to make the attic livable. Renovating the room turned out to be the easy part, as it was convincing ChibiUsa to leave her mother's room that was the hard part. It had taken four days of arguments that sometimes escalated in yelling and tearful reconciliations between Ikuko and ChibiUsa to convince ChibiUsa to move into her new room and that in doing so she was not giving up on her mother. Thinking back to those horrendous days, Kenji had no illusion that they might have ended up driving ChibiUsa away as well if it had not been for Diana offering a compromise that had finally diffused the situation, the compromise of visiting Usagi before going to bed and upon waking up every morning.

"Mmm… that was good, almost as good as Ikuko-mama." ChibiUsa said as she finished the last of her breakfast, breaking Kenji away from his thoughts.

"Hai, there's nothing like sardines in the morning." Diana replied, which earned an immediate response from ChibiUsa.

"Bleh, I don't know what you see in that."

"Would you prefer I had a mouse sunny side up?" Diana teased her friend, causing ChibiUsa's stomach to sour.

"Hey some of us are still eating here." Shingo complained as he looked up from the comics.

"Gomen Shingo-kun." Dian apologized before gathering her dishes and taking them to the kitchen.

"Shingo you better hurry up or you are going to be late for school." Kenji said.

"Hai," Shingo replied as he read the last comic and turned back to his breakfast, making quick work of it.

Putting down his soup spoon, Kenji got up from his seat and went into the kitchen to assemble lunches for the three kids. Prepping the various items for the three bento boxes his thoughts turned to happy thought of how much things had changed since ChibiUsa had come into their lives. Before ChibiUsa, Usagi had been like any other teenager, lazy and unable to hold onto a yen without spending it on something trivial that had all changed with ChibiUsa. Within that first month, she had done a 180 on all of the traditional teenager behaviors, no longer caring about her own wants and instead only interested in making ChibiUsa happy.

Of course as Kenji gave the three kids their lunches and herded them out the door, he told himself that he really shouldn't have been that surprised. Usagi always did have a big heart, a heart that was instantly drawn to those who were alone and needed help. There was that boy in the hospital she had given a rose to when she was going to see Ikuko following Shingo's birth and then there was that silver-haired girl in the park that Usagi had befriended about six months after Shingo was born. And this past year there was Mizuno Ami who Usagi had befriended even though they had nothing in common; befriending her even before learning that Ami was a fellow Sailor Senshi. So it was no real surprise that with ChibiUsa needing her, her own wants had become secondary. Kenji just wished that he had some of that natural empathy talent that Usagi had, maybe if he had it, he wouldn't have failed Hotaru.

Glancing over at a picture that he had taken the day of the adoption party, which now hung on the refrigerator, Kenji couldn't help but both smile and feel sorrow. The picture showed four happy kids tackling an overwhelmed Luna and enjoying the time of their lives. That party had been the first time when he hadn't felt sorrow from loosing Usagi, able to enjoy the happiness of welcoming a new member into their family. A second photo on the refrigerator from earlier in the party showed a different scene. This photo was just of ChibiUsa and Hotaru and unlike the later photo, Hotaru was not yet carefree and instead looking at the photo now he could see that something was troubling her. He had a feeling that she had already made up her mind to leave by this point and was feeling guilt over partaking in the party.

Returning to finish off his own breakfast before seeing about putting something together for his wife to nibble on, he hoped that somehow Usagi was watching over Hotaru and protecting her. _ At least she has Luna with her and Luna was able to teach the Sailor Senshi how to survive these three wars they have fought. _ Kenji told himself for not the first time as he tried to reassure himself that Hotaru would be all right. _ Plus she is a Sailor Senshi as well. And even if she is only a fraction as strong as she was during that battle, she will be okay. That's if she wants to. _ Kenji's thoughts continued, with the final thought being what he was most concerned about. He could only pray that Luna would be able to help Hotaru realize that she was not responsible for what happened to Usagi and that he and Ikuko wanted her as part of their family.

Finishing with the last bite of his dinner, Kenji took his dishes into the kitchen and then proceeded to wash his along with the kids'. Once that was taken care of, he got out a tray and a couple of small dishes and proceeded to prepare a light breakfast for his wife. With her upset stomach, he chose a simple bland meal of crackers and yogurt with water to drink. Putting the yogurt container back in the fridge a long forgotten memory suddenly clicked in his mind.

_ Silver haired foreign child with odangos and a strange mark on her forehead that was how Ikuko had described the little girl that Usagi had befriended. She had said that if she hadn't known that she had only given birth to one girl, she would have sworn that the two girls were twins with how similar their personalities were. _ Kenji thought as the memories of Ikuko's description of the little girl who looked to be Usagi's twin came back to him. He remembered how at dinner that evening, Ikuko had described the encounter at the park. She had been sitting on a park bench holding a napping Shingo who had just turned six months old at the time when Usagi walked over to a girl her age who was crying over by the sandbox. Within minutes, Ikuko had said, Usagi had the other girl smiling and had then brought her over to meet her mother. The girl had obviously been a foreigner, as she did not speak any Japanese, but for some reason Usagi and the girl appeared to understand each other perfectly. And even odder, Usagi and the strange girl had been practically mirror replicas of each other, especially after Usagi had done the other girl's tangled hair up into odangos. Seeing how cute the two girls looked together and also so that Kenji wouldn't think she had lost her mind, Ikuko had taken a picture of the two girls.

At the time, neither he nor Ikuko had thought much of the event, just taking it to be a strange set of coincidences. Now as he thought back to that day, Kenji was no longer so sure. He now had a sneaking suspicion about the foreign girl and so he decided indulge his pet theory and headed into the living room for a moment. Walking over to the cabinet where they kept the photo albums, Kenji pulled out the one for Shingo's birth year. Then taking the album over to the couch, he sat down and began flipping through. Finally coming to the page he was looking for, he nearly dropped the album when he looked at the picture from that day for a second time, even though he had been expecting to see what he found. This was not the first time he had seen that particular photo, he had seen it when Ikuko had gotten that roll of film developed and other times when they had shown that album to family and friends. However, this was the first time he had looked at it the past year and now he no longer saw a foreign girl with an uncanny likeness to Usagi, but who was definitely not Usagi. Instead he saw Usagi. _ No not Usagi, Serenity. _ Kenji thought to himself, as Usagi's form now, minus the wings, was apparently how she appeared back during the days of the Moon Kingdom. And as much as he wanted to say what he knew himself to be seeing was impossible, ChibiUsa was the counterpoint. Somehow that scared girl Usagi had met in the park that day had been Usagi from a thousand years ago. Shaking his head at the craziness of the situation, Kenji decided to bring the album up with him when he took Ikuko her breakfast. _ I wonder what Ikuko's response will be. This should at least be able to bring a smile to her. And maybe if Usagi is able to find away to be in the right place to comfort her past self in the future, she will find a way to take care of Hotaru. _ Kenji thought, now feeling more comfortable that things would work out with Hotaru, he just had to have faith in his daughter.

* * *

With the onset of morning, Tokyo's now booming construction industry began another day of repairing the damage left by demon attacks and installing various items that were supposedly supposed to offer protection from future attacks (some of them being quite dubious in their claims). The sudden up-growth of the construction industry from the national recession was wholly linked to the demon attacks which over the past few months had become quite severe in their damage. As it now stood there were quite a few buildings that were undergoing complete renovation, the Mugen Academy being only the latest one added to the list.

Not surprisingly, the Diet had even recently been taken in by the desire to buy or invent any form of anti-demon protection that was out there and, consequently, had dramatically increased the military research and development (R&D) budget. Now no longer simply buying already developed equipment from the defense contractors of allied nations, the military was commissioning those same contractors to develop new weaponry to deal with the unique elements of the threat Japan faced. And to support the efforts of the R&D teams, the government had established a top secret R&D center in downtown Tokyo, a center that had come within a block of being destroyed just a week after it had been brought online.

Given the risk associated with placing such an important building in Tokyo, there had been of course a vigorous debate over its placement. On one side those pushing for a secluded location pointed to the collateral damage of the more substantial battles while the Tokyo proponents touted the benefits of having the facility close in where they would have ready access to the technologies being developed at it. With equally good arguments for and against its placement in the city, the debate had gone on into the wee hours of the morning. It was only when the prime minister had brought in the minister of magic to get his thoughts that a break though was reached. While unable to guarantee the safety of the facility 100, he had suggested the use of wards. And so after a further two hour debate on whether or not to listen to the "crack pot," an agreement had been reached on placing the facility in downtown Tokyo. And to help protect the facility, it was build mostly below ground, and a series of wards were placed around the facility to both protect it and to further enlarge its size.

And now with the pending arrival of the first Sailor Senshi to visit the facility, it was brimming with activity. Paint crews were out repainting all of the walls along the proposed tour path, while cobblers were fixing the stone work in the entrance hall. And it was into this mess, that Captain Carter arrived. She was the first of the international partners to arrive, having arrived last night after a long trip that had begun at the Wright Patterson Air Base where she was stationed as an engineer in the United States Air Force. _ Guess the brass must be visiting today. _ Carter mused to herself as she side stepped an electrician rushing past her.

"May I help you?" the receptionist asked as Carter finally made her way up to the front desk.

"Hai" Carter replied with one of the few Japanese words that she knew as placed the Japanese version of her orders down on the desk.

"Ah, you must be the head of the American contingent." The receptionist said, this time in English as she saw the Air Force logo on the paper. "If you would be willing to wait just a few moments, I will see about getting you an escort."

"Arigato" Carter replied with a slight bow, before turning and walking over to one of the couches. Picking up one of the science journal on the table she began reading it as she waited.

A few minutes later, the door into the interior of the facility opened and a young Japanese soldier came out. Spotting Carter he walked over to her and said, "Captain Carter I presume."

Standing up, Carter replied, "Yes."

"I am Lieutenant Sano. If you would, please follow me." The lieutenant said before leading Carter through the door and down a short hallway and into an awaiting elevator. Then once inside, he punched in their destination and as the elevator began it descend, he handed Carter her ID badge, who not needing to be told, affixed it to her uniform.

A few minutes later, the elevator reached bottom and Lt Sano directed Carter down another set of corridors until they finally reached a general's office.

"Captain Carter, I had not expected to see you for a few more days." The general said in English.

"The rest of my team won't be arriving till Thursday, but I felt it best to head straight over here. My orders were not that clear on exactly the nature of the situation, but they were clear enough that I felt it best to not waste days doing nothing."

"A true seeker of knowledge at heart, I can understand." The general replied with a little laugh. "Well then, why don't you have a seat and I can fully brief you on the situation. But first I let me ask you this, are you familiar with the Sailor Senshi?"

Thinking back over the limited briefing that she had received state side, Carter shook her head. "While I am familiar with the term, the term was never explained. I assume that it is the code name for this project?"

Grinning, the general had to fight the desire to laugh. "Iie, that is not the case." Then picking up a folder from his desk he handed it over to Carter. "Well it looks like I get the honor of breaking your view of the world. And after having been on the receiving end of what I am about to tell you, I am looking forward to having the honor of breaking the news to another scientist." And with that Carter began to learn about the Sailor Senshi and the existence of magic.

* * *

The weeks since the "incident" had seen the Mugen Academy transformed first from a prestigious school to a police scene and now finally to a construction scene. Earlier in the week, the military investigators had closed up shop and pulled out, allowing the construction crews onto the campus to begin the long process of rebuilding. While the investigators had wanted to stay longer, for it had become obvious very quickly that Mugen had been at least one of the sources of the demon attacks, the school's board of directors had eventually been able to use their political influence to get the school released back into civilian hands. While there was no way the school was going to be able to reopen before the end of the school year (given that was just a little over a week away), they hoped that the construction crews would be able to sufficiently clean up the damage that they would be able to reopen the school for the lower grades in time for the start of the next school year.

Of the buildings on the Mugen campus, only the main building, which held the science labs, had been seriously damaged in the battle. That building was a total loss and would have to be torn down once the cleaning crews were finished recovering the various hazardous materials. The rest of the buildings, while not so severely damaged, all had some degree of damage; however, their damage was minor enough that the board of directors felt that they would be able to reopen the school in a limited capacity. The loss of the main academic building, though, would prevent them from reopening the school for the upper grades.

With the current high demand for construction workers, the less glamorous task of cleaning the battle sites prior to leveling and rebuilding often fell to poorly trained day laborers. For the past week, two friends Soun and Genma had been part of the daily crew. While Soun did have a successful dojo and therefore was not hurting for money, his daytime schedule was quite light and with three daughters he could always use the extra money for their college funds. Additionally, it gave him time with his best friend and helped motivate Genma to do an honest day's work, a reason why Soun's wife never complained about the fact that he working below his stature by taking these jobs.

Whereas Soun was able to realize his dream of opening his own dojo, that dream had been closed off to Genma during an accident shortly following the birth of his son. His wife had only been home from the hospital for a week when a propane tank had exploded outside the dojo that Genma and Soun were training at. When the two of them had awoken in the hospital, the doctors had explained that both of them had suffered minor concussions from the blast and various cuts and burns from the flying shrapnel. And, that for some unknown reason, Genma's left leg was showing an unusual amount of inflammation. The doctors were never able to explain why, but for some reason the muscles in Genma's left leg had been poisoned during the blast, crippling his use of that leg. While Genma could stand and even walk on the leg with some minor assistance, he had lost his ability to practice martial arts. And so, without any other marketable skills and a very poor work ethic, he was left to finding work as a day laborer. Thankfully for Genma's son, who was quite gifted in the violin, Genma's wife had some family money, which only she had access to, which she used to support take care of him, as otherwise with Genma's pour financial situation he would never have been able to discover or develop his talent.

Today they had been assigned three of the rooms in the lowest basement level to clear out. As they were just day laborers and not trained hazmat workers, they had received some simple training on how to recognize the more hazardous items such as radiation sources, bottles of acids and bases, biological samples which they were to mark for disposal by the one trained hazmat crew and otherwise not touch. The rest of the semi-hazardous material that they would find, however, they were to just toss into the large trash barrel that they brought down to the basement.

With a routine well developed between the two of them, Soun and Genma made short work of the first room. Now entering the second room, Genma, being crippled, took the refrigerators near the door, as Soun walked to the far end of the room to work for another hour before lunch call. Reaching the far side of the room, Soun had to carefully step over black toolboxes that had been strewn across the floor when the pyramid they had been stacked into collapsed during the battle. Not paying much attention to the black boxes, Soun opened one of the cabinet drawers and instantly found himself standing in a sea of dead C cell batteries that came out of the cabinet. _ What the…? _ was all that Soun could think as the batteries flowed out of the cabinet. _ Who the heck needs that many batteries? Well I guess its time to get to work. _ Soun thought to himself as he sighed and sat down while grabbing one of the black boxes, which was thankfully conveniently located and began filling it with batteries.

At the other end of the room, Genma, leaning slightly on his cane, was rummaging through one of the room's three refrigerators. With lunch approaching soon, his stomach was rumbling and his rummaging had a different purpose than the one he had been hired for. While he was currently emptying the fridge of both its chemical and biological waste, the last element being something he was not supposed to do, he was only doing that because the items he was picking up did not look edible. His limited training had of course included the warning of not to eat anything, but he had conveniently forgotten that tidbit.

Pulling out what looked to be a promising container, he opened the lid to examine the paste like substance that it held. However, after just one whiff of its contents, he quickly refastened the lid and tossed it into the garbage can before reaching in to grab the next convenient item. This time he pulled out a tray containing vials of a white powder, which he did not give a second thought to before tossing them into the trash can. By this time he had all but emptied the first fridge and he was getting quite discouraged. The next several items did nothing to improve his outlook, however, when he pulled out the next to last item his mood immediately improved as the thought _ Pay dirt! _ ran through his mind, for the clear jar held what appeared to be a pickled egg.

Pulling his head out the fridge he looked back at his friend and was pleased to see that Soun was still engrossed with whatever he was currently up to, which meant that he would not have to share. Giving the jar's lid a twist, Genma reached in and plucked out the pickled egg. _ Wonder what kind of egg this is, doesn't look like a chicken. The shell is not right, though why they decided to pickle it with the shell on I don't know. Maybe it's a snake egg, yeah that's probably it. _ Genma thought to himself before tossing the jar into the trash and cracking the egg open. Then once he had shelled the egg, he popped it into his mouth, chewed a few times and swallowed. _ Hmm… not too bad._ _Not as good as a chicken egg, but I have had worse. _

Then with a grin on his face, Genma reached back into the fridge and pulled out the last container, hoping that it was another one of those pickled snake eggs. A hope that turned out to be good, for it was another container of a purplish liquid in which a golf ball sized egg was suspended. Now with his second course in hand, Genma turned back to the garbage can and was surprised to see Soun

"So anything of interest in those fridges?" Soun asked the surprised Genma.

"Iie, just jars of smelly liquids and some dead plants." Genma replied as he palmed the small jar into his hand. Then taking note of what Soun was carrying he asked, "What's with all the batteries."

"Don't know, but there must be thousands of them back there." Soun said as he gestured to the back of the room. "This is only a small portion of them. I can only think that they were used with those black boxes." Soun said while indicating the remains of the former black box pyramid.

Having learned early on not to question what they might find in the various rooms (especially after that Twister game room), Genma just nodded and watched Soun empty the box load of batteries and one pink stuffed bunny with a broken toy drum into the garbage can. Once Soun had begun to walk back to the other side of the room, Genma brought back the jar back out and began to untwist its lid.

Unfortunately for Genma, just as he had fully loosened the lid of the jar he was startled by a small explosion from a few rooms down the hall, which caused him to loose his grip on the jar. _ No! _ he screamed in his mind as the jar fell into the trash can and its contents oozed out. Debating for a few moments on whether he wanted to reach in and retrieve the pickled snake egg, Genma eventually decided that since it had now gotten mixed up in some of those foul smelling liquids, which he had tossed in earlier, that he would pass. And so Genma turned back to his task of rummaging through the refrigerators in an attempt to fill his belly. Unnoticed by Genma as he turned away from his lost meal, the egg slowly slipped into the pink bunny.

* * *

The two "pickled snake" eggs which Genma had found in the refrigerator were of course neither pickled nor snake, but were instead immature daimon eggs that professor Tomoe had been saving for an experiment. Because they had been set aside for the experiment, they were the only daimon eggs to have survived the battle. And being immature eggs, the egg that Genma had dropped into the garbage can was not able to immediately gain control of its host artifact. However, a little over an hour later, the daimon had finally gain control of its pink body and opening its red eyes for the first time it gave its drum a whack before quickly enlarging to a good five feet in height, instantly shredding the garbage can that it had been in.

With the arrival of lunch time, Genma and Soun had returned to the surface with their garbage can and after leaving the garbage can along side the ones of the other teams for emptying after lunch, they had joined the other workers under the lunch tent. Wrapped up in their boisterous lunch conversation, none of the workers heard the demon's initial awakening. On the other hand, its "It's dinner time!" drum beat that it played after enlarging to a height of five feet was heard by all. Drawn by the drum beat, the confused workers turned to look. Seeing the demon, they as a group began screaming and pandemonium instantly set in as they all tried to stampede away with Genma right in the front of the line (which is an excellent trick for a crippled man).

With the demon not far behind them, the panicking workers quickly covered the distance to the street where half of them turned to run north and the other half turned to run south. Unfortunately for those that chose to turn south, the demon also decided to turn south once it reached the street and even though they were running as fast as they could they were no match for the demon. Closing up on each of the runners, the demon tossed what looked to be an Energizer battery as it passed. Of course with this being a demon, the battery was more than a simple Energizer battery. Unlike its normal cousin, the demonic energizer battery instantly drained its victim of all their energy upon hitting the body, leaving a pale unconscious body behind.

Within five minutes of catching up with the escaping construction workers, the demon had drained every one. Now just standing in the middle of the road, the bunny played a new tune on its drum as it summoned the batteries back and transferring their stolen energy to the giant battery on its back. Looking north, the demon bunny did not see any sign of the second group of workers. Deciding that chasing after that group was not worth it, the bunny collected its drum sticks in one hand for a moment before pulling out a pair of black sunglasses.

* * *

Taking a momentary break from grading the current stack of papers, Haruna looked out at her class who were about two thirds of the way through their math final. As expected Ami was already done with her exam and was apparently working on something else. Knowing Ami, it was probably Sailor related and further more it was probably something related to Usagi. _ Usagi _ that caused her mind to move to think about her favorite student as her eyes moved over to look at the empty desk. Only a few months ago, she would have laughed if anyone had suggested that the slacker she then knew as Usagi would become her favorite student. But that was before she knew the truth, before that slacker got a daughter and was forced to give up her childhood and mature in order to be the mother that the child needed.

_ Oh Usagi, I hope Ami and the others can find a way to bring you back soon. This room just doesn't have the cheerfulness it once did. _ Haruna thought to herself before returning her attention to Makoto's history test. Reading the girl's answer to the next question, she frowned before marking it wrong. While not as bad as Usagi's exams, Makoto's grades were not that great either. Though she did have to give the girl credit for doing as well as she did do. This exam occurred only days after Usagi had been lost, so Haruna knew that Makoto studying had most likely consisted strictly of that last minute preclass cram. Writing the number 77 on top of the paper and then marking the grade in her book, Haruna had to admit that given all of that, 77 was a decent grade. Picking up the last ungraded exam, Haruna let herself smile at the thoroughness of the answers she expected to find. She figured that Ami had to have used at least twice as much paper as any other student in writing her explanations. Leaning back in her chair, Haruna began to read Ami's test. She always left Ami's tests for last, letting her finish her grading on an upbeat note, after all grading a perfect test always left her with a little euphoria feeling that she had to have done something right.

She was about halfway through the exam when there was a light knock at her classroom door. Looking up from the exam, she saw one of the receptionists from the main office walk into the classroom. Getting up from her desk she walked over to meet the young lady. Taking the offered note, she nodded her understanding and then spoke, "Mizuno-san there is a phone call at the office for you."

Not having noticed the visitor's arrival, Ami was startled when Haruna called her name. But, recovering quickly she put down her notebook while Haruna told her of the call. _ It looks like our vacation is over. _ Ami thought to herself as she came up with only one reason why there would be a call at the main office for her. If her mother ever needed to get a hold of her at school, she would just leave a message. That left only one possibility, the military, as her name had been given as their contact in the Sailor Senshi. Without her ability to transform into Mercury there was no way for her to keep her identity a secret when she began meeting with the R&D people (her first meeting being scheduled for this afternoon) and she along with Minako and ChibiUsa agreed that they could not afford to wait for her powers to return before she began to work with the R&D. Consequently, her identity had to be revealed. They only hoped that the military wouldn't piece together the other parts of the puzzle, not that she really believed that that not happening was a real possibility. As for why they hadn't contacted her on her communicator, this way see at least had a chance in making up a reasonable excuse as to why she had to leave school.

Following the receptionist back to the school's office, she accepted the offered phone and answered, "Moshi Moshi, this is Mizuno Ami".

"Mizuno-sama there is an incident in progress." came the reply from the other end of the phone.

"Understood, where is the target?"

"Indigo-five. We have a transport enroute to your location, ETA ten minutes."

"What is the situational status?"

"We have assets moving to engage, they will wait for your arrival prior to engaging. The local assets are currently clearing collateral out of the target area. Target threat assessment is currently level 10." Ami sighed in relief when she heard that it was only a level 10 target. Based on the rating scale that she and Minako had put together a week ago, a level 10 threat was one in which the demon was just draining energy and nothing else. It was hoped that the military would be able to eventually deal with these all on their own. A level 1 threat, however, was one she hoped would never occur, for that level threat called for the immediate evacuation of the greater Tokyo area and furthermore she and Minako had recommended having a friendly nuclear capable nation spin up an ICBM for five minute launch at the target area.

Understandably, that suggestion had not gone over very well when Venus had outlined it during their meeting with the defense minister. In fact there is no real term to describe just how poorly that suggestion was received. But after letting the other participants rant for ten minutes, Venus had then forcibly called the meeting back to order and given the floor to Ami to explain why such a drastic response was called for. And, as she described what a level 1 threat would entail, the room had gone absolutely quiet. In a level 1 threat, the Sailor Senshi would likely be either incapacitated or dead and they would be facing an enemy like Hotaru when she was possessed. As Ami described Usagi's battle with Hotaru, all objections had died away. The first to understand and put aside their dislike of nuclear weapons were the military officers, who like Ami knew that they couldn't just rule out a weapon because they did not like its collateral effects. The civilian leaders had been harder to convince, as they did not want to be associated with unleashing another Hiroshima or Nagasaki. However, at the end they had to agree that Tokyo being lost in a nuclear attack was better than loosing the entire nation.

Later that night, on a whim Ami had called up her computer and ran a quick query on the weaponry of the Moon Kingdom. She was not surprised to find that even the Moon Kingdom had a stock pile of hydrogen and neutron bombs in addition to others that looked even worse. However, there was one item there in particular that caught her attention and kept her up awake all night staring at her ceiling, a mention of the ultimate doomsday weapon – a weapon dating back to the foundation of the kingdom, a weapon that had been locked away and used just once. As she lay in her bed with Youko curled up beside her she finally understood why Hotaru felt she needed to get away and find herself. Learning that you were a doomsday weapon was not something that anyone wanted to learn, much less a kid and Ami had no doubts that Hotaru knew the truth, there was no way that she couldn't after that battle.

However, all of these were thoughts of things from before and Ami did not have time to revisit those thought and so breaking back out to the present, Ami replied, "Recommend we proceed with plan alpha."

Then getting an acknowledgement from the other party, Ami hung up the phone and thanked the receptionist for letting her use the phone and quickly walked back to the classroom. Opening the door to the room, she walked over to her desk and collected her materials. Then looking up at Haruna, she said the codeword "Usagi," which both Haruna and Makoto understood to mean both Sailor business and something that was not immediately critical for Makoto. If Ami had said something about Usagi's condition, then Haruna had agreed to find a way to quickly release Makoto as well. As it was with Ami finished with her final for the day, it was not a real issue for her to let Ami go.

Walking down the steps and away from the school, Ami headed out towards the gate. The few teachers she had passed in the hall had not questioned why she was out of class. With her reputation for being a very studious student, none worried about why she was out of her classroom. Also the school faculty in general terms knew of Usagi's condition and many know also knew of Ami's desire to be a doctor and so many just figured that Ami was heading over to be present while some more tests were run on Usagi (a train of thought that Haruna had encouraged by filling out independent study paper work for Ami). Of course, that was all completely wrong, but for Ami it provided the perfect cover to let her out of class to deal with the demon attacks. Arriving at the front gate of the school, she did not have to wait long before a military jeep pulled up and paused just long enough for her to hop in.

"Afternoon ma'am" The MP who was driving the jeep said as he handed her a flak jacket.

"Arigato." Ami replied as she accepted the jacket and put it on while absently taking note of the MP's good driving skills as he weaved in and out of traffic. While the jeep did have a siren and light, given that it was a police vehicle, the MP was driving too fast for those to be much use in clearing out the traffic. Turning her attention back away from the read, Ami proceeded to adjust her cap to a smaller size that would fit her head fastened her hand's free communication device in place. Then with her gear all set, she turned to her driver and asked, "What is our ETA to the target area?"

"We are 3 minutes out."

"Hai" Then toggle her radio for broadcast she spoke, "This is Mercury, ETA to target area 3 minutes, request situation update."

"Mercury, Command. Acknowledge your three minute ETA. Target has moved to indigo six, but has continued to remain a level ten threat."

_ That's good _Ami, thought as she activated the alert function on her communicator. Unlike the panic function, which caused the receiving units to sound an audible alert, the alert function just caused a steady light to activate. Not using an audible alert therefore allowed the Senshi to respond to the alarm when the time was appropriate and given the current assessed level of the threat, Ami felt that the military should be able to handle this threat. But it was still a good idea for the others to make their way over once they finished with their classes, just in case things changed.

Thumbing the transmit button on the radio again, Ami began speaking again as she summoned her communicator. "Ready to receive uplink on secure frequency tango-five." Ami said as she activated the secure wireless function of her computer. Now the technicians who had installed the secure telephone unit in her house would have been mighty surprised that she was using her computer in a secure mode without the use of an external encryption unit and even more so when they realized that as far as the telephone unit was concerned the computer's software implementation was an exact duplicate of the phone and key. Over the previous weekend she had connected the secure telephone unit to the computer and set it to analyze the encryption scheme. By the end of the following Monday, the computer had run the phone through sufficient paces that its magic enhanced quantum processor had been able to duplicate the phone circuitry.

"Acknowledge. We are transitioning to secure mode and initiating upload." As the voice over the radio said this, Ami saw the connection status on her computer change from being simply connected to being in a secure mode. Then with the secure transmission mode engaged, Ami began bringing up the data reports. Analyzing the movements of the demon, Ami entered some commands into the computer and began overlaying various different population maps as she attempted to make sense of its methodology.

By the time the jeep had come to stop just under three minutes later, Ami had a good idea of the demon's movement patterns and how they could use that to their advantage. Jumping out off the jeep, Ami made her way over to the command post that had been setup where two other jeeps were parked.

"Sir, Sailor Mercury reporting." Ami said as she gave the commanding officer a quick salute once she had made her way over. While technically since the Sailor Senshi and the Japan's Self Defense Force were different military organizations they normally would not need to salute each other. However, ChibiUsa in authorizing the integration discussions had requested that the Sailor Senshi be integrated as much as possible into the military's command structure, a request that Artemis had agreed with. For ChibiUsa, the basis for the request was her memories of how the Senshi interacted with the military back home. And for Artemis, he had seen the inherent benefits of a more structured arrangement that would prevent ground confusion over the chain of command.

"Mercury, good to see that you have made it." The officer replied as he returned the salute. Then gesturing for Ami to approach the map, he began pointing out the current location of the demon and his current troop deployments.

"Sir, I have analyzed the demon's movements and I suggest that while we evacuate these areas, we do not evacuate this mall here." Ami said and after receiving a questioning look from the colonel she continued. "The demon appears to be attracted to high population densities, so if we leave the mall unevacuated the demon will head that way. And if we then array your forces here and here we will have a focused kill-zone for taking out the demon."

"Hai that's a good plan Sailor Mercury, though setting up the ambush sites here and here would give the men more cover." the colonel replied as her pointed out his alternate sites to station the men. Then getting a nod of concurrence from Ami, he turned to the soldier standing next to him and gave the orders to setup the ambush.

"Sir, if I may. I would like to join one of the ambush teams." Ami requested once the colonel had finished and turned back to the map.

"I thought you couldn't use your powers?" The colonel asked

"I can't. However, I still have use of my computer which I can use to scan the demon and should the situation change, it will be a useful tool on the frontline." Ami explained.

"And you are still too much of a foot soldier to stay back here at the command post." The colonel replied with a smile, remembering how years earlier he too did not initially want to move up in the command structure and away from directing leading his men. Then turning to his aid, he said, "Lt Zala get Mercury here set up with a rifle and then introduce her to team 4, she will deploy with them."

"Arigato sir." Mercury replied before giving a salute and following the lieutenant.

* * *

Kneeling behind the barricade that they had set up, Ami along with the members of team 4 watched as the demon approached. When she had been introduced to her squad mates for this engagement, there had been a fair bit of shock amongst the soldiers with regard to her age, something that she had experienced in meeting the defense minister as well. But that joking had quickly passed when they had realized that she was not just playing dress up and had been issued a weapon and furthermore had a facial expression that showed her to be the veteran of many battles, something that only a few of the soldiers deployed today had ever seen.

So far the demon was playing right into the trap that Ami had laid out. With the large mall behind them filled with shoppers and everything else along the approach route cleared out, the demon was following the bait. Catching her squad commander's visual command out of the corner of her eye, Ami raised her rifle to the ready position and sighted down along its scope as she lined up her target. Then watching the demon slowly walk forward a few more steps and across the second threshold line, Ami slipped her finger around the trigger and prepared to fire. As she did all of this, faint memories of her past life came to the surface and she instinctively adjusted her form to provide a better base against the weapon's recoil and to adjust her aim to correct for the slight in-flight drop of the bullets. The squad commander who glanced over at Ami briefly to make sure she wasn't going to hurt anyone with that weapon, still not sure that allowing a kid to join them was a good idea, was surprised at her form and would have found it hard to believe that this was the first time Ami had held any kind of firearm.

Ami and the rest of the members of her squad and the other squads stayed in that ready position for another five minutes as they waited for the demon to reach the ideal position in the kill zone. At one point it looked like it might have realized that they were there for it stopped its advance and began to play a little ditty on its drum as it spun around in circles. However, it turned out that it was only taking a break and then once it had finished its piece it had proceeded forward again, finally moving fully into the kill zone.

"All teams open fire." the engagement commander ordered over the radio.

With those words, the military units opened up and a hail of bullets pelted the demon bunny. Spinning around trying to escape from the bullet, the demon screamed in pain as bullets poked little holes in its drum and blasted off chunks of fur. However, the demon was more enraged than hurt and as the soldiers paused to change cartridges, the demon took advantage of the momentary pause to toss its drum sticks at one of the ambush sights.

Thankfully the drum sticks were thrown a little too vigorously and hit the building behind the ambush point instead of the soldiers. The soldiers still were, though, pelted by large chunks of falling debris and glass shards from the side of the building. Not letting the demon's counter attack get to them, Ami's squad brought their rifles back up and returned fire. The soldier next to Ami seeing that the bullets did not appear to be doing much damage paused in his firing to remove a grenade from his vest and to load it into his rifle's grenade launcher. Then bringing the rifle back up, he fired off a shot and scored a direct hit on the side of the demon, this time blasting off a large chunk of purplish gunk.

Finishing off her second clip, Ami loaded a third clip in the rifle, but instead of bringing the rifle back up to return fire, she placed the weapon down beside her and instead pulled out her computer and began scanning the demon. As she examined the readings she did not like what she was seeing, but then suddenly her mode improved as one of the numbers changed. Looking up she saw that after affects of a grenade hit on the demon.

Putting two and two together, Ami flipped the transmit button on her radio and spoke. "This is Sailor Mercury to all units. Return fire with grenades only. The bullets are insufficient." Mercury did not receive any verbal acknowledgement for her order; instead acknowledgement came in the form of dozens of grenades streaking towards the demon.

"Now I see why you didn't want us to join you, you are having too much fun by yourself and didn't want to share." Jupiter said when she arrived few moments later, having jumped down from a nearby building to land beside Ami.

"Jupiter, shouldn't you still be in class." Ami asked.

"Iie, the test is over and it is just a study period for the rest of the day since we took our science final yesterday. So what's the deal with this one?" Jupiter asked as the demon was enveloped in a large fireball from a dozen simultaneous grenade hits.

With the eruption of the large fireball some of the soldiers paused in their firing, thinking that they had finally taken out the demon. However, when the fireball died down they found that while the demon was badly scorched and was now missing one of its sunglass lenses, it was still very much alive. With a sinking feeling the soldiers resumed their fire as it took a few steps forward and produced a new set of drum sticks, which it used to begin playing its badly mangled drum again.

"It… it just keeps going and going." Yelled one of the soldiers in Ami's group as the demon began to make its way towards them, seemingly now unaffected by the grenades which were blasting off bigger and bigger chunks of its torso.

"Hey isn't that the Energizer bunny?" Jupiter said as she got her first good look at the demon.

"Hai, I guess you are right." Ami said as she too finally took a good look at what the demon was supposed to be.

"Well while I do like batteries which last for ever, this appears to be getting a little ridiculous." Jupiter said as built up a large ball of lighting in her hand and then with a yell threw it at the demon, a blast which knocked the demon down but not out.

While Jupiter was doing this, Ami ran a second scan on the demon, this time using her knowledge of that gaijin commercial and found the demon's weak spot. "Sailor Mercury to all units, aim for the large battery on the demon's back." she said into her radio.

"Back?" the soldier next to her asked, since they had been in front of the demon.

"Hai." Mercury replied.

"Team's 1 and 2 distract the demon. Team's 3 and 4 circle around the demon." came the resulting order over the radio.

"You heard him men, let's move out." The squad leader said as his team moved out from their barricade and began to flank the demon.

For the two circling teams the combination of the distraction provided by teams 1 and 2 and Jupiter along with the low intellect of the demon proved sufficient to allow them to circle around the demon without issue. Now behind the demon, Ami was once again lining her rifle up with the target. Having not been issued any grenades, she only had her bullets to use, but her mind figured that with everything else that they were going to be throwing at that giant sized battery that her bullets would have to do at least some damage.

When the order came to open fire again, the reaction was almost instantaneous. The demon roared in pain from the sudden impact of grenades and bullets on its battery. In an effort to protect its Achilles heel, the demon tried to twist its body out of the way; however, as fast as its actions were, they were not fast enough. And within seconds the giant battery was leaking battery acid everywhere through large and small holes. Falling lifelessly to the ground, its energy spent, the demon along with everything else nearby began to be dissolved by the demonic battery acid, which now coated the street.

As Ami watched the demon topple over, she idly wondered how similar the behavior of that demonic battery acid was to the real stuff. She was just thinking that it would probably be a good idea to keep flame away from it when rings of fire rained down on the demon's remains from a nearby building. _ Oh hell. _ Ami thought as she managed to yell "Duck!" over her radio just moments before her world went white.

* * *

"Ooh, my head." Ami moaned as she opened her eyes, moans which quickly attracted the attention of the nearby medic who then proceeded to shine a flash light into her eyes.

"She's okay sir." The medic replied.

Turning to regard whoever the medic was addressing, Ami saw that it was the colonel that she was first talked to upon arriving on the scene. "What happened?" she asked

"Your strategy proved successful for taking out the demon. However, it appears that one of your friends had not realized that the demon had already been neutralized when she arrived on the scene and then forgot that fire and batteries don't mix." The colonel replied.

Taking the hand the colonel offered her to help sit up, the memory of red rings of fire hitting the demon's remains came back. Looking up at the group assembled around her, she saw that Mars was looking a little self-conscious. "Mars-san I think we need to have a little science review of basic chemistry tonight."

"Hai. Gomen Nasai Mercury-san" Mars replied.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like I haven't been through worse. I don't think anything can top Sailor Moon's impression of a bomb."

"Hai, I guess you are right and at least this time you didn't have to jump of an office building and turn yourself into a snowman." Mars replied no longer feeling quite so bad.

Now turning back to the colonel, she addressed him. "Sir, how are your people."

"Thanks to your warning, they all escaped with only minor cuts and burns from that blast. However, I think we need to work with you on how to hit the deck, since if you had dropped faster you wouldn't have been hurt either."

"Hai." Ami agreed.

"One final thing before I let you go. I would like to your preliminary assessment of the engagement." The colonel said referring to the post engagement reports that the Sailor Senshi had agreed to provide following joint operations.

"Sir." Ami replied while sitting up a little straighter. "The demon proved to relatively immune to our bullets, though they did prove to be useful in distracting the demon and to a degree in stunning it. However, only the grenades appeared to have had the required firepower to actually hurt the demon. Additionally, our battle strategy would have been vastly improved had I done a detailed scan prior to the engagement."

Nodding in understanding, the colonel said, "Thank you Sailor Mercury for your help. Those thoughts match the initial ones I have based on the radio chatter. I look forward to reading your after-action report." Then turning to Mars and Jupiter, "Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mars thanks for your help as well." And then with that, the colonel turned and headed to check in with the other squad leaders.

"You know that look is good for you." Jupiter said as Ami slid off the stretcher and to the ground.

"Huh?" Ami replied confused.

"You know the school girl part time solider cross, what you think Mars?" Jupiter replied in explanation.

"Hai, you're right. Now if only she still had her rifle."

"And me without my camera."

Glad that Jupiter still had not gotten around to carrying a camera with her, Ami looked down at her outfit and noticed that her skirt was in pretty bad shape and that her shoes would need some serious cleaning tonight. Looking back up at her friends, she replied, "Just be glad that the two of you can still transform and generate your fuku instead of ruining your school uniforms like me."

"Why don't you ask Sailor Moon's mom if she might be able to help you? I am sure that she has run through quite a many uniforms in her time." Jupiter said referring to Usagi's tendency to trip over her own two feet if she wasn't paying close attention to her walking.

"Iie that won't work her mom doesn't sew." Mars replied, remembering the time she had tried to enlist Ikuko's help in winning the wedding gown contest.

"Excuse me ma'ams, but I am here to transport Sailor Mercury to her afternoon meeting." A soldier said, interrupting the discussion as he came up to the group of three.

"Hai, lead the way." Ami replied.

A few minutes later after getting into her second jeep for the day, Ami glanced down at her outfit. "Well so much for making a good first impression." she mused to herself.

"Not to worry ma'am. We will be stopping by your residence first so that you can change into your dress uniform."

"Dress uniform?" Ami replied, this being news to her.

"Hai, Sailor Venus I am told helped design them." The soldier replied, causing Ami to drop her head into her hands dreading what she was to find.

Another twenty minutes found Ami up in her room examining the uniform before taking it off of its hanger. The uniform looked like a standard dress uniform, the only differences being that in place of rank insignia, the uniform had alchemic mercury medallions and the Japanese flag included a golden crescent moon embroidered on top of it. All in all it looked very good and along the lines of something she would have designed.

"Minako had some further ideas; however, between me and our military counterparts we were able to keep her efforts focused to just the rank insignia and the flag. Our government friends then further added some ribbons for the three enemies we have fought." Artemis said from the open window where he had been cat napping in the sun while waiting for Ami to come home. He was scheduled to also attend the tour tonight with Ami and having known that she would be brought here to change for the tour, he had just headed on over to her house around midday to wait.

"Well I guess I will need to let Minako know that it turned out good." Ami said as she began removing the uniform from its hanger. Then turning to look at Artemis, she cleared her throat and said, "And now if you don't mind."

"Hai, I know." Artemis replied as he quickly scampered out of the room and down to the first floor before taking his human form.

* * *

At exactly 1800 hours, Ami and Artemis were delivered to the underground entrance of the building which housed the R&D facility. Then after being met by another soldier they were escorted into the building. In the facility's lobby she was introduced to the command structure for the facility, the civilian contractors, the wizard contingent (something that Ami had not been expecting) and then the first of the international partners.

From the sidelines as the introductions were made to the Sailor Senshi and advisor, Carter couldn't help but be amazed by the girl's youth. She had been briefed on the fact that four of the Sailor Senshi were just finishing up their next to last year of Junior High, but Carter had not really made the connection to their youth. Shaking her head in amazement she also remembered the communicator designs which she had been examining all afternoon long, designs which this girl was apparently responsible for and had been provided by the Sailor Senshi upon the signing of the treaty. Given that Carter was here in advance of her team, the general had tasked her to the communicator reverse engineering group to see if they could find a way to make use of its advanced features in their communication gear. While the Sailor Senshi had the ability to produce them in a limited scale, the mass production that the military needed required a different approach and so they needed to reverse engineer the design. The intricacies of the design had amazed Carter and the team of scientists and engineers had only made minor progress in the week that they had the plans. And as such, Carter found it hard to believe that the design had been developed by a 14 year old. While Carter did recognize that from the background material that Sailor Mercury had not outright invented them, the girl still had made substantial modifications to the base design.

Hearing her name called, Carter walked forward and gave the blue haired girl a short bow before giving her a hearty handshake as well. Seeing the anticipation that was brimming in the girl's eyes with regard to the pending laboratory tour, Carter knew that she was going to enjoy working with this kid. And so with the introductions all completed, the tour began.

* * *

Somewhere in China's mountainous wilderness, Hotaru and Luna hiked in silence, a silence that had started shortly after they had snuck aboard a freighter to make the crossing. Luna had tried to engage Hotaru in conversation the first few days, but the black haired child was not interested. For Luna who had never experienced this problem, having been Usagi's guardian previously, she did not know how to deal with Hotaru's introversion. Whereas with Usagi, she could get the girl to open up by just crawling into her lap and purring for a few minutes that did not work with Hotaru. And so Luna was left to hike in silence beside her charge while hoping that Hotaru would open up to her. As such, Hotaru's first unnecessary words in the past many days took Luna by surprise

Cresting a ridgeline, Hotaru exclaimed "Sugoi!" as she saw the sight before her.

_ Huh? _ Luna thought to herself before quickly recovering and joining Hotaru on the ridge. Looking down into the valley before them, Luna had to agree with Hotaru's assessment, for the view in front of them was truly beautiful.

"I had read about the Great Wall in my history books, but never thought it looked like this." Hotaru said, not taking her eyes off the wall which extended out of sight to her right and left.

"Why don't we break here for the night and see if we can make it there tomorrow." Luna suggested.

"Hai!" a now enthusiastic Hotaru replied.

"But first, I would like to get a picture of you with the wall as a background." Luna said as she unfastened her hip strap and then swung the pack off. "Leave your pack on for the photo." Luna added as she noticed Hotaru looking to do the same thing. Then opening the pack, she rummaged around through it for a few moments before she pulled out her camera.

"Nani? When did you get that?" Hotaru asked, not having made the connection when Luna had said she had wanted to take a picture.

"When you took that break to look at the manga, I stopped in at the camera store that was across the hall." Luna explained. "The helpful salesclerk also showed me how to use it."

"Okie." was Hotaru's response as she smiled for the camera.

Then with the picture taken, Luna helped Hotaru take off her pack so that Hotaru could go look around and play while she took care of preparing dinner. No longer encumbered by her pack and with her spirits lifted for once out of the depths they had been on since starting the trek, Hotaru aimlessly walked away from Luna to explore. Inhaling the fresh air of the mountainside, she felt her spirits rise some more. And for the first time, Hotaru took in the sights, which were quite magnificent with valleys and mountains stretched out as the eye could see in front of them. Deciding that she wanted to get a better view of the valley that lay before them, Hotaru found her initially aimless wandering leading her towards a rocky outcropping that over hung the valley. Sitting down on the edge of the ledge, she let her feet dangle as she admired the view.

Having become lost in the view, Hotaru was startled when a soft voice from beside her said, "Earth has as a beauty all of its own."

Confused as she had not thought that there was anyone else here, Hotaru turned and found a ghostly woman sitting beside her on the ledge.

"Don't be afraid firefly." The spirit replied.

With her heart still beating very fast, Hotaru realized that the voice sounded somewhat familiar, almost comforting in a ways.

"Hai, we have spoken before, though I would be surprised if you remember that conversation, after all you were asleep at the time."

"Who are you?" Hotaru asked, now no longer quite so afraid.

"That does not matter, especially since this will probably be the last time I will be able to appear like this. And don't worry about me appearing for you, as I know that is what my daughter would have wanted."

_ Huh? _ Hotaru thought, utterly confused. However, instead of voicing her confusion, Hotaru just nodded and returned her gaze back to the land.

"I know you are troubled by your powers little one. With as gentle as your heart is there is no ways you could not be."

"What do you mean?" Hotaru asked as she turned back to look at the spirit wondering if somehow this spirit knew what she really was and wondering if so then why the spirit was not running away.

Reaching out with one of her arms, the spirit rested her ethereal arm, which surprisingly had substance down on Hotaru's knee while she responded to Hotaru's question. "Firefly, even if part of my spirit did not sleep in my daughter's heart, I would always be able to recognize one of my Sailor Senshi."

"Your Sailor Senshi…" Hotaru repeated as she looked more closely at this spirit, not sure what she was referring to.

Chuckling to herself, the spirit said, "Well I guess with my daughter's transformation, recognizing me is not as easy as I thought it would be." as she lifted a hand to indicate the glowing crescent moon on her forehead. Then seeing some light of understanding begin to come into Hotaru's eyes, she continued, "Hai, I am Serenity, the last queen of the Moon and your other adopted grandmother."

"Obaa-san?" Hotaru asked with fear now entering her voice as she pulled back away from the spirit of Queen Serenity.

Frowning slightly, Serenity wished that she had been able to awaken her daughter's soul before making this trek away from the Elysian Fields. Little Serenity, _ No Usagi now. _ Serenity told herself, was always much better with matters of the heart. The frown unfortunately was misinterpreted by Hotaru and she curled up further preparing herself for the vengeful spirit's wrath, an action that did not go unnoticed by Serenity. Mentally kicking herself, Serenity glided so that she could forcibly pull the child into a hug.

"Hotaru-chan, look at me." She instructed Hotaru once she had Hotaru in her arms. "Firefly, I do not in any way blame you for what happened to my daughter." Serenity said once she had Hotaru's attention. "I want to remember this; Usagi adopted you because she wants to have you as her daughter. When she recovers, she will give you just as much love as she will give to ChibiUsa. She blames that demon for what happened to you. And remember that when it was important, you broke free of the bonds that demon had placed on you and saved ChibiUsa."

"Demo… The power of Saturn." Hotaru began, but was quieted when Serenity placed a finger to Hotaru's lips.

"Hai, the power, which is your birthright, is a frightening responsibility. And when the Moon Kingdom was first founded and the Sailor Senshi first called, the child who was given that power was not able to fully resist the darkness that is inherent in Saturn's power. But you are not that same child; you are instead the power of Saturn born into this world for the first time." Serenity explained. Then touching Hotaru's heart she continued, "This time the power of Saturn is fully in tune with your heart and as such there is no danger of you ever loosing yourself to the power now that you have woken up. When you accepted the power of Saturn to break free from that demon, you did what the first Saturn was unable to do; you tamed the darkness and turned it into shades of gray."

Pausing in her explanation, Serenity saw that tears had come to Hotaru's eyes as the girl began to take to heart what she was saying. Smiling that she had begun to help Hotaru see the light, Serenity adjusted her hold on the girl and drew upon more of her fading power to strengthen the embrace she was holding the girl in before continuing. "You will never be the pure white that my daughter or your new sister is. Instead you are to be their other side, the blackness that makes them and you whole. Remember how it was together that you and Usagi healed Sailor Erion. Usagi would never have been able to do it on her own."

"Hai, I think I understand." Hotaru said as she thought back to how it had felt when she had helped Usagi heal that other Sailor Senshi. She didn't understand all of what happened then, but she knew that her powers of Silence were just as important as Usagi's powers of Light in freeing Erion from her bondage.

Pleased that Hotaru was beginning to understand, Serenity let Hotaru continue to ponder those thoughts for a while before once again speaking. "Next time you fear your power, think of the beauty that you see before you here."

"Huh?" Hotaru replied unsure of what Serenity was getting at.

"Remember that the power of Saturn gives you the ability to protect the beauty in this world from those who wish to destroy it. Your power is not evil. It is only evil if you chose to do evil with it. Protect the beauty of the world and the hearts of your friends and there will be no difference between your power and that of my daughters." Serenity explained.

"Hai." Hotaru replied starting to understand what Serenity was getting at.

Satisfied that she had accomplished her goal, Serenity smiled again before letting her body dissolve into moonlight, before vanishing completely. And as she finally disappeared, a voice saying, "Take care firefly" could be heard.

Serenity's parting words were only partially noticed by Hotaru, who was once again looking at the valley, but feeling already better about being Sailor Saturn. Her words were also heard by Luna who had come up on the two near the end of Serenity's visit. Not wanting to intrude, but also unable to turn away, Luna had stood hidden behind some bushes as she watched Hotaru and Queen Serenity's spirit talk.

Now finally released from her paralysis, Luna quietly said, "Thank you your majesty." as she gave a slight curtsy towards the rising moon in the late afternoon sky. And while Luna knew that Hotaru was a long way from having conquered her demons, she also knew that Hotaru had finally taken an important step forward. For the first time Hotaru had accepted, even if it was for just these next few minutes, that she was not responsible for what had happened to Usagi, that Usagi really wanted her as a daughter, and that Sailor Saturn was not some evil being. From now on reminding Hotaru of those facts would be easier and eventually Luna now knew Hotaru would come to fully accept that as being the truth.

Walking up beside Hotaru, Luna laid a hand down on Hotaru's shoulder. "How are you doing Hotaru-chan?" she asked when Hotaru looked up.

"Okie." Hotaru replied.

"Well dinner's ready. Why don't we go eat and then we can come back here and watch the sunset. I have a feeling that it will be quite breathtaking from up here."

"Hai!" a very enthusiastic Hotaru replied before following Luna back to camp.

Leading the way, Luna thought to herself _ Guess it is time to write home. Ikuko and Kenji are certainly very worried and I doubt the letter I wrote before we left helped at all. And they will be happy to know how much better Hotaru is finally doing. Probably be best to write the letter once Hotaru goes to sleep. Don't want to push her too much. There's a full moon tonight, and that will give me more than sufficient light to work with _

End Chapter

* * *

-The genesis for the Energizer bunny being the demon host was one of the old Space Quest games from Sierra (one of the original great game companies, a company which is sadly no more). There was a particular scene where you as the hero Roger Wilco had to catch the energizer bunny (who was running all of those centuries in the future) so that you could steal his battery.

-Ranma fans will recognize the bumbling idiot who released the latest demon. Unfortunately, there was nothing Pluto could do about Genma's idiocy. All she could do was to make sure Ranma never learned martial arts.

-And as I have previously mentioned, the pummeling of Ami was only short term and now having gotten the emotional help that she needs from Rei, Ami finally beginning to be able to shine again. And you can be sure that an ulterior reason of Minako's for letting Ami work with the military even though she still can't be Sailor Mercury is make sure Ami feels useful and part of the action.

-And now for your time waster of the month: "Something Grim Comes this Way" by Ruskbyte. This is a Harry Potter / The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy crossover. At least as of now it is a one shot focusing on Harry's train ride to and arrival at Hogwarts his first year and is very humorous. While the two stories might not seem to be ones for crossing over, Ruskbyte has pulled together a good story and knowledge of The Grim Adventures is not necessary.

-For those wondering how little Serenity managed to find her way into the sandbox, that is a little plot bunny that has been lurking around in the back of my mind for a couple of years now. The genesis of that little bunny is that Serenity's fascination with the Earth began as a result of a failed assignation attempt (prompted by fear over the prophecy mentioned in Book 1). Banished by a spell, she is saved from oblivion and is instead sent into the future and is found by her future self (of the same age). As a result when she is finally returned to her own time, Earth now holds a special place in her heart and she begins actively seeking to return whenever the backs of her guards or turned, eventually leading to her meeting Endymion. At some point I will get around to writing that one-shot story, of which I do have an initial draft started. Like the rest of my one-shots, the story will be part of the "In the Beginning" series. Of course before I write that one, I need to finish and post "Leaving the Cradle," which is 80 written and tells of the founding of the Silver Millennium.


	4. Chapter 3: First Trials

**The Fragility of Time**  
**BOOK THREE: "Star Dust Memories"**  
**Chapter 3: First Trials**  
**Author: etj4Eagle**  
Email: etj4Eagle at yahoo (com)  
Email2: etj4Eagle at fanfiction (net)  
Webpage Geocities - etj4eagle Published: 4/24/06  
Last Edit: 4/24/06

Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story, all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only so freely and inform me of where you post it.

"Hey Keffer-san did you see today's headline?" Ivanova called out to Keffer as he entered the mess hall.

"Iie. What's happening?" Keffer asked. Normally he and his wingmen were not that interested in the local happenings, having enough to worry about with training and keeping their birds happy. But, with all of the Sailor Senshi craziness they had become involved in, they had found it to be beneficial to keep a tab on the local papers and in particular the tabloids, since all too often they got first wind of new happenings there.

"The courts have finally approved the seizure of the Tomoe estate. Serves him right for unleashing all of those demons. Just too bad that there was nothing left when the Sailor Senshi were done with him." Ivanova explained with a tone of satisfaction before offering the paper to Keffer.

_ Tomoe, now where I have heard that name before. _ Keffer thought to himself as he took the offered paper from Ivanova. He of course had known about the court case, it was hard to find any Tokyoresident who hadn't. Like any other major disaster, in its aftermath, the politicians had immediately begun to look for scapegoats so as to divert attention away from any consideration that their policies may have contributed to the tragedy. In this case, it was all too easy to find a party to blame – professor Tomoe and his associates. However, with Tomoe dead, they could not try him, but publicly seizing his assets would have the same effect with the added benefit of reimbursing a small fraction of what the government spent.

For the most part seizing the assets of the Tomoe estate was a mere formality, as no one was willing to be labeled as demon supporter by appealing the seizure and the only reason why it had taken as long as it had was because of government bureaucracy. However, to the surprise of the prosecutors while no one actively appealed the seizure, they found that a substantial portion of the assets were out of their reach. Part of the delay in announcing the final seizure of the Tomoe estate was an investigation as to how this portion of the estate became protected. In the end the prosecutors had to settle for being unable to gain access to those assets as while appealing on behalf of Tomoe might have been a no-no, appealing on behalf of his orphaned daughter would not have had that stigma. And furthermore, they quickly realized that unless they could connect the daughter to Tomoe's activities they would loose in any attempt to seize her trust fund, even though the trust fund was mysteriously funded during the middle of the Mugen Academy battle.

Reading the last line of the article, Keffer had to chuckle over how who ever was managing the Tomoe's girl's trust fund had managed to pull one over on the government. _ That child had a true guardian angel there, even if he was working for Tomoe, at least in the end he took care of the child. _ Keffer thought to himself. He did not have any problem with the daughter getting the money instead of the government, as he figured it would do far more good in the hands of a child than in those of the politicians. Putting down the paper, Keffer asked the others "Did you know that Tomoe left behind a daughter?"

"Don't know what he was thinking. Couldn't have been that caring for his daughter." one of the other pilots at the table said.

"Hai, you would think that with a daughter to raise he would have focused on her and not world domination, and especially would have known better than to unleash those creatures here in Tokyo where his daughter might be a victim." Ivanova added.

"Speaking of which, I wonder how that child is doing now. Learning that your dad just tried to take over the world must be tough." a different member of the group added.

"Hai." They all agreed.

Picking up the second paper that his fellow wingmen had been looking at, Keffer began to scan through its articles to see if it had anything else to add. There was not much additional detail in this one, though unlike the first paper it did have some photos of the school, professor Tomoe and the Tomoe house. Seeing the photo of the house, Keffer froze and stared at the picture for a couple of minutes ignoring the conversation before quietly saying "I've been there."

"What do you mean you have been there?" Ivanova asked.

"Huh?" Keffer replied, not having realized that he had spoken out loud.

"I said, what do you mean that you have been there before?" Ivanova said, repeating her question.

"Remember that liberty some months back when I went to help that girl look for her friend." Keffer began.

"Hai, that's the one where you ditched us for your underage girlfriend."

Sighing, Keffer replied, "Yeah that's the one. As you remember, I agreed to help that girl look for her friend. We did finally manage to find both her and another friend who had apparently just been involved in one of Tomoe's attacks. Since the first friend was out cold I ended up taking them back to the second friend's house, this house."

"Wait you mean that Tomoe actually attacked his own daughter!" Ivanova exclaimed. And, while they had just discussed that having been a possibility with the attacks in Tokyo; none of them had really expected anything like that to have actually happen.

"Hai, and the girl's name was Hotaru." Keffer replied.

The table went quiet with that declaration as each person at the table turned their thoughts inward as they slowly ate their food. Thinking about Hotaru being Tomoe's daughter and also associated with the Sailor Senshi due to Diana; Keffer began to wonder how Diana was taking it all. He remembered how cute he had thought it was at the time when the kitten he had found seemed to care about the danger the Sailor Senshi faced. Now of course he knew that Diana was a sentient being and as such he was wondering how Diana was coping with Hotaru on one hand being a good friend but on the other being the daughter of the architect of all the devastation. Deciding that he was no longer hungry, Keffer abruptly stood up, gathered his tray of half eaten breakfast and left the table.

"Anyone want to take bets on where lover boy is off to?" Ivanova asked the table and was met with a head shakes all around for all present assumed that he was off to see the XO about getting liberty in the near future.

"You know I just realized something, Keffer has never told us how he met that girl."

"Hai, your right." The others agreed.

* * *

Following a break of a few days to take in the Great Wall of China, Hotaru and Luna still in her human form had resumed their westward journey. Hiking through the forests of Asia, the two had been alone for most of their journey the past few weeks. Occasionally they would come across a village along their path where Luna would buy some food with the limited funds she had brought with them, but aside from those infrequent meals of fresh food, the two had lately been subsisting on various edible plants they had picked along the way. Thankfully when they were buying their supplies all those weeks back in Japan, a book on edible plants had caught Luna's eye, otherwise she was not sure what they would have done. Though if worse came to worse, she was sure that she and Hotaru could have found out a way to use the Silence Glaive to hunt or fish. Thankfully for those worried about deforestation and over fishing, they had not had to resort to such drastic measures.

For the most part, they were blazing their own trail as they followed the faint trace of power which Hotaru could sense – a power which Hotaru had informed Luna would only remain unwarded till September. Occasionally they would find an open field or an animal path that ran their way, but for the most part and as was currently the case, they had to blaze their own path through thick forests. Ducking under a tree branch, Luna was glad that at least they were no longer walking through jungles as they had been shortly after having arrived on the main land. They would probably have still been back their if Luna had not been able to convince Hotaru that it was okay to use her Silence Glaive and that nothing bad would happen from using it as an oversized machete. Compared to those days, this walk through the dense forest was pleasant, though not quite as nice as the days when they were at a higher elevation where the arid air kept the forest fairly sparse. Now standing back up after passing under that large tree branch, Luna caught a glimpse of an opening up ahead as Hotaru pushed through some brush. Break through that final brush herself, Luna joined Hotaru along the banks of a river that was bisecting their path.

Seeing the swiftly flowing river, Luna sighed and asked, "We need to cross the river don't we?"

"Hai," Hotaru replied.

"I was afraid you were going to say that." Luna replied as she took another wary look at the river before pushing down her feline reluctance to water and walking up to the side of the bank. Squatting down to get a better look, she tried to gauge its depth and speed. "I think we are going to have to head upstream a bit to look for a crossing." Luna finally said a few minutes later, having decided that crossing here would be too dangerous.

"'Kay" Hotaru said from where she was leaning against a tree.

Hearing exhaustion starting to set into Hotaru's voice, Luna asked "How are you holding up Hotaru-chan"

"Okie" Hotaru said but then moments later "A bit tired."

"Why don't we rest here for a few minutes then?" Luna asked

"Iie, keep going." Hotaru replied as she stood back up from the tree and made an effort of looking more rested than she really was.

"Well then we'll keep going, just let me know when you need to rest." Luna replied with a smile that was elicited by Hotaru's antics of trying to hide her tiredness. As the two of them resumed their hike, Luna carefully watched Hotaru for the first few minutes to make sure that Hotaru was not trying to push herself past what her body could handle. However, finding no hint of severe fatigue, Luna smiled again – the young child in front of her had really changed a far bit over these past weeks. The Hotaru of now for most of the day seemed to be a near endless fountain of energy, as any other child her age should be. The only holdover from her illness was that Hotaru very quickly fell asleep each night after they set up camp; though, given how much hiking they were doing each day even that was not too surprising. This stood in sharp contrast to how not that long ago Hotaru was barely able to go ten minutes without needing to stop for a rest break. Back when they had first started this trek, Luna had doubts of whether or not Hotaru would even be able to make the trek, but now those were long gone. While Luna did not know the details of Hotaru's previous medical condition too well, she had known about Hotaru's frequent seizures and now realized that those early breaks were probably more psychological than physical. Normally claiming her powers should not have healed Hotaru of her preexisting illness, but Luna suspected some of that illness was due to the spiritual battle between Hotaru's Senshi power and the demonic presences. And additionally, unlike the others, when Hotaru claimed her power, her body was reborn anew – something that still puzzled Ami.

Thinking about that rant of the blue haired genius the day after the battle brought a barely suppressed chuckle. Ami's rant went over everyone's head, including Luna's but the one thing she was able to understand was that Ami's scans indicated that every single cell in Hotaru's body was only a day old – even the neurons and immature egg cells. Remembering more of that incident, Luna silently laughed as she remembered how Ami had suddenly grabbed a hold of Hotaru and dragged the very confused girl, in much that same way that an excited Usagi in the past had dragged various members of the group, to a nearby grocer. The rest of them had followed close behind not sure what to do as they were not sure at the moment if Ami was sane and did not want to become her next victim. By the time they had arrived at the grocer, Ami had already paid for a large container of yogurt and was force feeding a quite reluctant Hotaru while muttering about repopulating stomach bacterial colonies.

"Luna what's that?" Hotaru asked breaking Luna out her thoughts and memories of Hotaru with yogurt splashed all over her face, ChibiUsa laying on the floor having fallen from laughing too hard and the rest of them ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

Stopping beside Hotaru, Luna followed Hotaru's arm and saw a smudge of haze rising in the distance. Whereas Hotaru was unable to resolve the smudge to anything more, Luna with her more acute feline eyesight was able to resolve the smudge beyond the bend in the river into smoke and heat waves and replied with, "There appears to be a fire."

"Nani?" Hotaru exclaimed as her mind immediately made the association of fire equals burning building, an association that is far more valid in the city than in the forest. But, not giving time for any counter logic to that association, Hotaru's mind had already moved onto the next step and before she had even finished speaking her exclamation, she was off running.

"Hotaru-chan wait" Luna cried out in vain as Hotaru quickly vanished before finishing to herself with "it is probably just a forest fire." and thinking that they should really maybe be heading away from it. However, as Hotaru did not hear her, Luna was left with her only option being to follow after her charge and hope that Hotaru did not get herself into any trouble.

* * *

Running alongside the bank of the river, Hotaru quickly found her path become littered with various tree branches and other obstructions as the forest closed back in around the river. With her footing becoming more treacherous by the moment, Hotaru was forced to slacken off her initial pace, but as she did so a voice in her head told her that she needed to keep up her former speed and so Hotaru took the only other option and jumped into the near edge of the river. Now running in the ankle deep water, Hotaru was able to regain her previous pace and more.

After ten minutes of solid running, Hotaru's objective finally came into sight as she crested a final bend in the river – a village from which billowed thick black clouds of smoke. Angling her path out of the river, Hotaru quickly covered the final few hundred meters that lay between the village and the river. As she entered the village, Hotaru without thought or pause dropped her pack to the ground while slowing her pace down to that of a fast walk. Now able to hear the commotion of the villagers, she let their voices guide her to the fire and as she walked through the street, her fuku subconsciously took over.

Reaching the site of the fire, Hotaru saw that the fire was thankfully limited to just a single building, but that that building was fully engulfed in the flames and would not remain standing for long. _ I hope there is no one in there. _ Hotaru thought to herself as she walked up behind the villagers who were all clustered around the building. Now slipping her way through the crowd she could see the grief and fear on their faces and began to get the feeling that there were people trapped inside that building. Finally reaching the front of the pack, Hotaru's attention was drawn to four villagers who were desperately trying to break free from others who were restraining them. Looking at those four, Hotaru could see the madness in their eyes and knew if they got free that they would run straight right into the burning building.

"Please, my child is in there." Hotaru heard one of the four cry while one of the group doing the restraining replied "You will be just throwing your life away, there is nothing that any of us can do for them now."

Hearing that request, the thought _ There are children in there? _ rang through Hotaru's mind as she froze her forward movement. Now turning to closely regard the building, Hotaru's eyes appeared to slightly glow as she knew what she had to do. While she had been able to push through the crowd earlier with no one taking notice of her, the sudden chill that those near her felt as Hotaru coldly regarded the building changed that. However, before anyone had the opportunity to question where this stranger had come from, Hotaru dashed out into the gap between the crowd and the building.

"Hey you, where do…" one of the villagers who managed to notice Hotaru's action tried to call out. But before he could even finish his question, she had hurtled the small group right in front of the building's entrance and was inside.

Inside of the building, Hotaru paused briefly as she looked around trying to locate the children. Coughing briefly on the toxic smoke, Hotaru's eyes eventually found a half dozen children sitting in the center of the room with a ring of fire burning brightly around them. With a smile now grazing her face, Hotaru ran towards the children. As she approached them she was able to hear the wails of fear from those who still had the presence to cry. When Hotaru reached the ring of fire, which encircled the children, she did not pause and instead plowed right through it, gritting her teeth to the pain that shot up her legs as the flames licked her skin and scorched the base of her uniform.

Finally reaching the children, she was able to get a good look at them. Only four of the six were still conscious, the other two were passed out on the ground. Of the four who were conscious, a very faint spark of hope now shone in two of their eyes. However, the eyes of the other two were lifeless and that dead look worried Hotaru more than the severe hacking cough that racked the children or that two of them had already passed out. Drawn towards the children, Hotaru knelt down beside one of the two who had passed out and reached her hand out and placed it on the child's chest. Not having yet learned how to check for a pulse, feeling for the rise and fall of the chest was the only way that Hotaru knew how to check to see if someone was still alive.

Feeling the ever so slight motion of the unconscious child's chest, Hotaru let out a sigh of relief. Pulling her hand back, Hotaru rocked back onto her feet so as to stand up when something caught her attention. Leaning forward to get a better look, Hotaru screamed _ Nani-ka! This is on purpose? _ in her mind as she let out a hiss for there wrapped around the child and dully secured was a heavy duty chain. Picking up a segment of the chain, Hotaru felt the fury of Saturn begin to build as she turned to follow the chain with her eyes back to where it wrapped around the pole that the children were all clustered around. Now looking to each of the other children, Hotaru now realized why they had been unable to flee the fire – each of them was chained. And it was even worse than what Hotaru realized, for the pole they were all chained to was the main support pole for this building. Cutting that pole would have killed the children just as surely as the fire was going to for the roof would have collapsed in on them and their savior.

Now standing back up on her feet, the two children who were still aware pulled back from Hotaru slightly as the child warrior of Saturn's aura chilled their soul and her now slightly glowing eyes scared them. Not realizing the effect that she was having on the children or even her own actions, Hotaru's ire brought forth the Silence Glaive, its blade glowing red from the reflected firelight. With the cold hard metal of the pole arm in her hand, Hotaru's ire began to subside but before it had fully deflated, she with a flick of her wrist cleanly sliced through each of the six chains, separating the children from their anchor.

With the children freed, Hotaru's conscious mind took over. Looking back at the way she had come, Hotaru felt her stomach drop away as she realized that she had no idea how she was going to get the children or even herself out of here. In her drive to get into the building she had not taken note of how badly consumed the building was with the flames, flames that covered most of the floor and which was even falling from the rafters as chunks of the ceiling and roof began to give way. Now feeling the fear typical of any nine year old, Hotaru softly called out, "Luna where are you?" as she desperately searched the shadows for a familiar face who could save her.

No familiar or even unfamiliar faces were, however, to be found in the shadows between the flames. Instead, she was all alone with six scared and injured children. Hearing a wrenching sound, Hotaru twisted her body slightly just in time to watch a large crossbeam fall from the ceiling with a loud crash. Scared by the sound of the beam hitting the ground Hotaru jumped backwards slightly as she gripped her glaive more closely to her chest while two of the kids cried out in fear. Backing away from the ring of fire which encircled them, Hotaru's mind was consumed with fear. No longer even aware of the others, Hotaru dropped the glaive, letting it fall across the ring of fire and curled up into a tight ball as she tightly closed her eyes and tried to wish the danger away and within a few minutes joined the other children in crying out for someone to come save them. For Hotaru, she whimpered, "Momma what should I do?"

As Hotaru lay there curled up on the floor, her mind's eye began to substitute the destruction that was wrought during her battle with Usagi for the burning building. Pulling herself into an even tighter ball, Hotaru's mind moved to the airborne escape from the Crown Fruit Parlor and how her mother had been able to act without fear to protect her and ChibiUsa during all of it. Memories of how during her battle with her mother, how that silver haired girl kept trying to reach out to her the entire time, never giving up on her, also came to her. She also remembered how even with how badly hurt as her mom was, how her mom had been more interested in her own injuries.

Unbeknownst to Hotaru, as her mind sought refuge in her memories of Usagi's strength, she had for the first time crossed a very important threshold in coming to terms with the events at Mugen Academy – referring to Usagi as her mother. While Hotaru at times before had thought of Usagi as her mother, the thought was more of an indulgence, something that would be nice and not something that Hotaru felt was truly true, for she did not believe that she deserved to be Usagi's daughter. She of course was happy beyond belief when Usagi declared that she was going to be Hotaru's new mother and again so when Ikuko had announced that the adoption had been formally approved. But the elation both of those times had been short lived and she had quickly attached mental qualifiers to Usagi being her mom. However, now as Hotaru subconsciously looked for the strength that she needed to prevail, her mind tossed the silly self-pity that Hotaru was feeling and latched onto Usagi with no if ands or buts.

"Momma you protected ChibiUsa and me jumping out that window. I can't protect these kids; I'm not strong like you." Hotaru cried out as she remembered that incident again.

Raising one her hands up out from behind her arms, Hotaru looked out to where the glaive lay in the in the fire and could only see the death and destruction that the power of Saturn brought – power that, she instinctively knew, had been feared back during the time of the Silver Millennium. Now turning her gaze to the fire itself, Hotaru's mind began to associate the death and destruction that this fire was bringing with power of Saturn and finding a fitting similarity.

Closing her eyes and shedding a tear, Hotaru quietly said, "Momma I wish I had been able to help you. ChibiUsa-chan, I'm sorry that I left. Thank you for being my friend." And with that Hotaru uncurled from her ball and moved into a kneeling position. Holding her body tall, she placed her hands down in her lap as she looked out over the fire. Mentally taking a hold of her henshin magic, Hotaru released a cleansing breath and gave the mental command to release her transformation and the protection of the magics of her Sailor form.

With the release of the magics of her Sailor form, Hotaru was prepared to die along side of the children, knowing that while she had freed them of their bondage she had still been unable to save them from the fire. As the magic of the fuku began to unravel, Hotaru felt a warmth envelope her body, almost as if she was being hugged. Letting her body sag a bit, Hotaru leaned backwards towards the strongest sensation of warmth. Closing her eyes, a quarter second after releasing her transformation, Hotaru felt the warmth give a comforting squeeze.

"Momma?" Hotaru absently asked softly as her mind connected that warmth to a "wing" hug from her mother. Feeling a second squeeze, another memory of the battle suddenly surfaced and with that memory realization of what she needed to do.

Now knowing how to save the children, Hotaru said "Arigato momma." as she wordlessly called back the power of Saturn and took to her feet. _ The power of Saturn can also protect! _ Hotaru thought jubilantly as she remembered the Silence Wall from her battle with Usagi. Dressed in her charred Sailor Fuku again, Hotaru reached down to pickup the glaive from where she had let it fall. Unfortunately, during those few minutes it had lain there in the fire, its solid metal shaft had become red hot and as Hotaru closed her hand tightly around the pole, she let out a scream of pain. Immediately releasing the glaive, Hotaru pulled her hand back slightly while turning it so that she could look at it. Seeing the black marks on her white glove, Hotaru shivered slightly. However, she stopped herself from pulling her hand all the way back and instead with a grit of her teeth forced herself to take a hold of the glaive a second time, ignoring the shooting pain and the hissing sounds as she picked up the weapon.

Returning to her feet, with Glaive in hand, Hotaru was just in time to see a large section of the roof fall to the ground but two meters in front of them. Knowing that she did not have much time left, Hotaru ushered the four conscious kids into a tight cluster around the two unconscious ones, while she stood in the center. Then with everyone set and a look of determination and expectation of success on her face, Hotaru reversed her grip on the Silence Glaive.

"Silence Dome!" Hotaru yelled out with as much force as she could muster as she simultaneously called upon as much of the power of Saturn as she could handle and channeled that power into the Glaive as she jammed the tip of the glaive down into the floor. In jamming the Glaive into the floor, Hotaru had also dropped to her knees and know with her eyes closed she could feel the protective bubble of power encase them as the building finally gave way.

* * *

Huffing in her attempts to sustain her peak sprinting speed, Luna tried to force her legs to move even faster. Seeing Hotaru dash away from her had instantly brought an onslaught of bad feelings to Luna as she somehow instinctively knew that Hotaru was going to find herself in way over her head. And while her powers as Saturn would normally make Hotaru quite strong, Hotaru was by no means anywhere near that strength yet. And so, Luna now found herself chasing after Hotaru's trail as she prayed to Serenity that she would not be too late.

Seeing a fallen log in her path, Luna hurtled it without a thought and only spared a silent curse for the tree branch that caught her in her face moments after landing. She did not even spare the time or energy to wipe the blood from her face, where the branch had punctured her skin. There would be time for cleaning wounds later, but now all of her energy was focused on navigating the dangerous path as fast as possible. Unlike Hotaru, Luna had opted to stay on solid ground instead of diverting into the stream with her cat instincts, the near freezing temperatures of the mountain stream, and the swiftness of the current all being factors. Unfortunately, that meant that she had to blaze her own path through the dense underbrush. But there was not even the time to worry about that as Luna ducked under another low tree branch and finally broke out into the open.

Now suddenly free of the confines of the forest, Luna stumbled her first few steps. Quickly recovering, though, Luna's eyes caught sight of the village, which was slightly offset from the river with farm land in the intervening space. As Luna began to now run towards the village itself, her eyes scanned for the source of the fire, but she only could see a cloud of smoke rising out from somewhere near the village's center. With her destination now in sight, Luna unbuckled her hip strap and then loosen her shoulder straps as she started across the farm fields. Then with her pack sufficiently loosened, Luna let it fall to the ground as gently as she could without breaking her stride, knowing that once this was all over it would be fairly easy to come back here to the fields to retrieve it. And now free of her pack, she was able to increase her stride even more.

A few minutes later, Luna finally reached the edge of the village. Entering into the village, she passed by Hotaru's pack and absently noted its location for later retrieval as well. Letting her nose lead the way, she quickly found her way to the source of the fire. Now having slowed down to a walk, Luna headed towards the crowd as she frantically searched for any sight of Hotaru. Becoming increasingly more worried by the minutes, Luna was only able to see what she guessed to be distraught mothers and fathers, some of whom had collapsed to the ground in grief and others who were being barely held back from entering the burning building. _ By Serenity's grace, there must be children in there. _ Luna sadly thought to herself as her footsteps took her to the front of the crowd.

Stopping two paces in front of the rest of the crowd, Luna looked at the barely standing building and knew in her heart where Hotaru was. Her mind, however, was not yet ready to admit to that conclusion and so she looked wildly about for any sign of her charge.

From where he was standing trying to hold back some of the enraged parents, Chu saw Luna arrive at the front of the crowd. _ A second foreigner? _ he thought to himself as he broke free and walked over to her. Realizing that she must be with the younger girl who had only minutes ago foolishly thrown her life away by running in the building, he began to explain what had happened to her. Unfortunately for Luna, the only modern language that she knew was Japanese and that was only because of the magic that tied her and Artemis to Usagi. And so Luna was left with only his wild gestures and his emotion for understanding. However, even with so little Luna knew what he was trying to say, for her heart already knew the answer.

"Hotaru! Hotaru where are you!" Luna called desperately, not wanting to accept what her mind and heart was telling her. Repeating her call a second time, Luna looked at the crowd again before turning back to regard the flaming building. Now in a softer voice she said, "Usagi-chan please tell me that Hotaru is not in there." before dropping to her knees. Unable to do anything to save Hotaru, Luna was left with only one option and that was to pray, "Serenity-sama by your grace, protect Hotaru."

Luna remained in that position for nearly a minute before a large crash grabbed her attention. Looking up, Luna and the rest of the village gasped in horror as the building finally gave way in a final explosion of debris and fire. Stunned by the loss, Luna along with many other collapsed completely to the ground. Unable to break her gaze from what was now just smoldering rubble, Luna remained in that position for nearly fifteen minutes as the fire slowly burned itself out. As she sat there, tears streamed down her face and Luna's only desire was to revert to her feline form and find a safe, comforting lap to curl up in as she cried her heart out. As hard as loosing Usagi was, loosing Hotaru now hurt even more and Luna did not know if she wanted to go on living anymore.

Lost in her feelings of loss, Luna at first did not hear the renewed commotion of the crowd and it took Chu shaking her shoulder to break her free of her sorrow. Looking up at Chu, she saw that there was a sparkle of something in his eyes as he directed her attention over towards one of the mothers. Looking at the indicated mother, Luna at first saw the tear streaked face and red puffy eyes that she was sure that she had as well and was wondering if this villager wanted to let her know that they would be here for her as well, but then Luna realized that the woman's face showed hope, almost joy. Confused, Luna looked back at Chu and had her gaze this time directed back to the smoldering remains of the building. Remains that as Luna examined them looked no different from what she would expect. The only thing out of place being a gleaming black pole sticking out of the ground in the center, which seemed to have been untouched by the devastation of the collapse. _ Gleaming pole in a protected circle? _ Luna asked herself as she too suddenly started feeling more hope. _ Could that be? _ Luna thought as she more closely looked at the pole and now recognized it to be the Silence Glaive. Now with real hope in her eyes, Luna was able to make out a child starting to stand up.

"Hotaru-chan!" Luna cried out in joy as she jumped to her feet and joined in with the sudden rush of parents. Quickly over taking the other parents, Luna was the first to arrive beside the children. Barley arresting her forward motion, Luna dropped to one knee and picked Hotaru up off the ground and into her arms as she sat down on the ground. Curling her body protectively around Hotaru, as she held the black haired youth in her lap, Luna began to gently rock Hotaru while she purred loudly – never having felt as much joy as she did right now.

Luna spent a good five minutes doing nothing more than just rocking Hotaru and purring, not that any of the other parents were doing much more themselves. Finally after having assured herself, Luna began to examine Hotaru, looking for any injuries. Starting with Hotaru's face, Luna began to instinctively lick her face clean, not registering the revulsion her human form's tongue gave at the act. As Luna continued her in depth examination and cleaning, her heart began to be settled as she found that Hotaru appear to be okay, just exhausted. However, when Luna's examination arrived at Hotaru's right hand, she released a load hiss at the charring and blistering of the vicious looking third degree burns along the palm of Hotaru's hand. The burn was so bad that Luna did not even think to wonder about the fact that Hotaru's glove had also been fully burned away there.

Feeling a tug on her arm, Luna looked up from Hotaru and saw an elderly woman. Seeing that she had the foreigner's attention, the elderly woman began to speak. Looking around as the woman spoke, Luna saw that she was the only one left. Looking back at the woman, Luna figured that she must want to take her somewhere and so adjusting her hold of Hotaru, Luna carefully stood up. Having guessed correctly, Luna was rewarded with a smile from the other. Taking one last look around the building, the Silence Glaive still embedded in the ground caught her eye. Walking over towards the weapon, Luna tried to figure out how to pull it out without disturbing Hotaru. Having followed Luna over to the Glaive, the other woman realized after a few moments what Luna was wanting and then stepping out in front of Luna reached out to pull up the weapon, which slid out smoothly and without resistance. Now carrying the weapon, which she realized much have been what that child had used to save the other children, the woman beckoned to Luna and began leading the two of them away.

"Don't know how you did it Hotaru. But it looks like you have inherited Usagi's ability for blindly risking your life and pulling off miracles." Luna said to the sleeping child as she followed her guide.

* * *

Getting off the main freight elevator at its lowest floor, Dr Hibiki walked down past stacked crates of various supplies. Once early on when he had made this walk, he had stopped to see what was stored in those crates and had been promptly very disappointed to learn that they held nothing more exciting than number two pencils and legal pads (at least that was the case with the five he had checked). Of course, he figured that storing such mundane supplies down here made perfect sense given what else this floor held. After all a floor of office supplies only warranted a moment's mention to Sailor Mercury during her tour, as her time was much better spent touring the lab facilities on the other floors.

Taking a right past the sixth supply stack, Hibiki walked up to the wall and swiped his badge past the proximity sensor. Looking up at where he knew the hidden camera was located, he waited for the guard up in the control center to recognize his face. Hearing the click of the door and seeing the lock indicator above the reader turn from red to green, Hibiki pulled the door open and entered. Inside, he had a short walk to another locked door, this one revealing the interior of an elevator as it opened. Stepping into the elevator, this time he was required to enter his access code.

As the elevator began to make its decent deep down into the bowels of the Earth, Hibiki tried to distract himself from the peculiarities of its construction or the dull glowing amber panic button by the door by reading his subject's chart. However, like every other trip, he was unable to focus on the chart and instead kept thinking about the slab of death that hung above his head. The laboratories housed at the base of the elevator shaft were the most secure in the entire facility and had been specially designed to safe guard the rest of the facility and Tokyo itself from their contents. There was only one access point in and out, an elevator that took ten minutes to make its journey, and suspended at the top of the shaft was a thirty foot tall lead weight. The lead weight, of course, being designed to permanently seal off the laboratories should someone press one of the panic buttons. And if that was not enough to give Hibiki the willies, the United States had donated to the effort a neutron bomb at the base of the chamber. The bomb would active only seconds after the lead weight had sealed off the laboratories, instantly irradiating everything. But due to the magical construction of this level of the base, none of the radiation would reach the surface, and as an added benefit 10 seconds after the bomb killed everything off, the wards which had displaced the rock to form the cavern in which the laboratories were built would collapse, instantly returning the solid rock, thereby ensuring a final kill of anything that had survived the lethal irradiation.

Doctor Hibiki did not fault the military for using such a draconian security procedure, for after all the lower levels were created for the exclusive purpose of holding and examining captured demons. And with such dangerous creatures, one had to take all possible precautions, but even still Hibiki did not like to be down in these levels for longer than necessary. For Hibiki the worst part was the ride up and down the elevator, which was made purposely slow taking nearly ten minutes to complete its journey, since in here he could not be occupied by his subjects and he still had that nice multi-ton lead block dangling over his head.

Hearing the chime of having reached the laboratory floor, Hibiki was finally able to push the thoughts of the security measures out of his mind. Taking a deep breath to regain his calm, Hibiki looked forward as the doors slid open revealing the brightly lit hallway. Walking out of the elevator, Hibiki brought up the chart and began to review the latest test results and his notes for what he wanted to accomplish during this examination.

Currently they had only captured one demon, one which was apparently quite unlike any of the other demons which had graced Tokyo. This one had been picked up the evening following that last demon attack a while back. As far as demons went, this one was quite weak; no where near the level of what Tokyo had been facing just months back. Hibiki had no problem with that, as it was far better to start small instead of jumping in head first. And this one would qualify as quite small, at least in terms of power, given that it had taken only a handful of soldiers to secure the demon. In fact the initial thought of the soldiers when they had confronted the demon was that it was a hoax. After all there were no drained people, only minimal property damage, and the only thing out of place was a very large and obviously drunk panda that was eating a large bowl of ramen noodles with empty bottle of sake scattered about on the floor and table. However, the panda proved that it was demonic instead of just someone's trained panda when it showed its ability to materialize wooden signs to communicate. The ability or at least the desire to communicate in Japanese was something that had quickly caught Hibiki's eye when he was first given the case report, for no other demon had been reported as having that ability.

Passing through various metal and wooden doors, all of which had various symbols inscribed into them, Hibiki flipped through his papers till he was looking at the results of the genetic tests. These results had only been delivered to him as he was leaving his office, so he had not yet had the time to review them. Skipping down to the analyst's conclusions, Hibiki frowned, genetically (both cellular and mitochondrial) this demon was a male Giant Panda. _ How strange I would have thought that there would have been some difference between a demonic panda and a standard panda. _ Hibiki thought to himself as he passed through the last door. _ Guess I will have to let the robe people have a shot at seeing what makes this creature tick. Just one test left to run. _

"So how are you doing today." Dr Hibiki asked his patient as he took a seat on the stool, which was located next to the observation window for cell 42 and activated the intercom system.

Responding the demon held up a sign that said, -Okay.- Then taking down that sign he held up a new one that said -How much longer till I can get out of here. - Flipping the sign around, the demon's sign now read –I feel fine and there is nothing to do.-

"Sorry my friend, but you will have to stay down here a little bit longer. Now why don't you tell me how you are not a demon." Hibiki said as he prepared for the daily "listening" to the demon's sob story as to how it really was a human, not that the demon had any explanation for why it was now a Panda or could materialize wooden signs out of thin air. Hibiki of course didn't for a moment believe the demon's story, but he had quickly found that this demon tended to be quite cooperative when one humored it and provided it with food – particularly instant ramen noodles.

* * *

When Luna and Hotaru had first entered the village it had been midmorning, the two of them having been on the trail about three hours. Now as Luna sat on the floor keeping vigil beside the small bed in which Hotaru had been placed the sun was fast approaching its apex. The first hour had passed in a quick flurry of commotion with healers and village elders looking over Hotaru. Luna had been fast approaching her limit of patience, not wanting to let Hotaru out of her eyes, and only her strong self fortitude kept her from changing to her feline form so as to be able to be by Hotaru and reassure herself that Hotaru wasn't going to vanish. During their fussing, the healers had stripped off Hotaru's charred fuku, replacing it with a night gown from one of the village girls, and cleaned and bandaged her various wounds. Once they had been satisfied that Hotaru was okay, they had withdrawn from the room, knowing that the conscious foreigner would want some time alone with the injured one.

When the others had finally left and not returned for a few minutes, Luna finally got up off the floor and walked over beside the bed. Laying a hand softly on Hotaru's face, she examined Hotaru's injuries a second time. Seeing how well that they had taken care of Hotaru, Luna smiled. Lifting her hand off of Hotaru's face, she turned her attention to Hotaru's right hand. Carefully picking up the arm by the wrist, Luna looked at how the hand was bandaged. She was glad that the healers here had taken the time to heal Hotaru, as she knew that she did not have the know how to treat anything like this. And from what she had observed from her place of observation during the treatment, apparently this wound had occupied their attention more than any of Hotaru's others. She wasn't quite sure what the healers had done in addition to bandaging it, though she knew that their treatment involved some kind of salve that they had prepared, a preparation that had looked to be quite complex. Thinking about the burn, Luna frowned. While the peculiarities of the Silence Glaive were not very well known, since the Senshi of Saturn had been very rarely awake back during the Silver Millennium, Luna was sure that the Silence Glaive should not have hurt Hotaru as it had. The weapon was magical and should therefore be able to resist the natural conduction of heat, but of course Luna realized, as she thought about it some more, Hotaru had barely any experience with the weapon. After all, so far Hotaru had only used it as a super sized machete. _ That is one thing we are going to have to change. Once Hotaru regains use of her hand, I am going to have to begin training her in using the Glaive as an extension of her body. _ Luna thought as she realized that she had been neglecting part of Hotaru's training.

With that examination over, Luna currently sat on the floor of the hut watching the rise and fall of Hotaru's chest. While she knew that there was nothing to worry about now and that Hotaru just needed to rest, she couldn't bring herself to leave. And so like she had quite a few times with Usagi, Luna was going to maintain a vigil over Hotaru. Though, at least with Hotaru maintaining a vigil was far easier than with Usagi. With Usagi, Luna wasn't so much maintaining a vigil, but discreetly following and keeping an eye on a fully healthy Usagi so as to prevent herself from worrying that Usagi would suddenly find herself in severe trouble. Watching Hotaru, Luna thought about how she had carefully followed Usagi into school, even managing to sneak into the classroom the day after the incident at Tokyo tower. In fact after about just every incident in which Usagi had brought ChibiUsa to school, Luna had also followed Usagi, with the same degree of concern that Usagi worried about ChibiUsa with.

The fall of footsteps from a solo man entering the hut, drew Luna's attention back from her memories. Turning to face the visitor, Luna gave him a visual greeting while also saying, "Konnichiwa."

The visitor replied to Luna's greeting in his own native tongue before switching to English to say, "Thank you." In a hesitant tone that indicated some familiarity but not comfort with the foreign language.

"You English speak?" Luna asked in reply, having understood his English words. Unfortunately, while Luna did understand a smattering of English, mainly what she had picked up from listening to the girls study, she did not know the language to any real degree. Now faced with an inability to communicate because she did not know the language, Luna chided herself with the thought, _ Should have studied English along with Usagi instead of just harping on her poor study skills. _ In the back of her mind, Luna intellectually knew why the thought of studying modern languages never crossed her mind, as back during the Silver Millennium some of the first spells taught to the princess were the translation spells and then here in the modern world the magic which bound her to Serenity as her guardian had given her mastery of Japanese. But here she was far from her charge who no longer remembered those translation spells and so she was left to having to rely on the little bit of understanding she had accumulated from the girls' study sessions. Thankfully, Ami had of late been pushing the others to do extra dialog practice in preparation for their upcoming high school entrance exams, the only reason why Luna had any hope that she might be able to communicate at least partially.

"Only a little." The man replied before adding, "Won." while pointing to himself.

Nodding her understanding, Luna pointed to herself, and said "Luna." Then pointing to Hotaru, she said "Hotaru." Turning back to look at her vaster she added, "English little too."

Taking a seat near Luna, Won let himself smile for the first time since he had been called to the fire. Turning to look at the sleeping child who had saved the village's children, Won wondered at miracle that this child had been able to bring forth. To be able to protect the children from the fire and to sever the chains which bound them in place, the girl had to have incredible power. But looking at her, now especially when Hotaru was tucked into the bed and sleeping, he could not imagine that one so young could wield so much power. But one could and his village had been blessed by her timely arrival. Turning back to look at Luna, he asked her "Hotaru how doing?" with a head tilt towards Hotaru.

"Okay, Sleep. Not hurt bad" Luna replied in an attempt to assure the man that Hotaru was okay and was just in need of rest. Explaining that Hotaru was suffering from nothing more than an acute case of magical exhaustion made worse by her superficial wounds of course being far beyond anything that Luna would be able to communicate.

"Good." The man said with a smile before asking "How old?"

Not trusting herself with remembering the English number system correctly, Luna simple held up nine fingers in reply.

_ Nine years old?_ _How is that possible? _ Won thought to himself. While he knew from looking at her that Hotaru was young, hearing it was still a shock. Recovering, Won shook his head in amazement before standing back up and walking over to the side of Hotaru's bed. Laying a hand down on the young girl's chest for a moment he looked at her serenely sleeping face. Smiling again at how peaceful she looked, Won withdrew his hand before bowing his head to say a prayer of thanks in his native tongue and making a request to the honored ancestors to bless the child. Turning back away from the bed, Won walked to the door. Stopping just inside the door, he turned to face Luna and said, "When awake party." and then he was gone.

* * *

Arriving home late in the evening, Jack Smith entered his downtown London flat and flopped down onto the couch as he picked up the remote and turned the TV on. Pulling out his mail, he began flipping through the different letters, separating them into bills, junk mail, and other stuff. Not seeing any of true importance, he picked back up the remote and began flipping through the channels, deciding to deal with the bills later.

As Jack sat there slouched on the couch he did realize that he really should be celebrating, after all he had finally gotten an assignment he really wanted. No longer would he need to chase after the royals, getting photos for his employer. No now he was finally going to be able to follow in his father's footsteps and use his talent to support the nation, well not so much his nation as the nation of Japan. Though, given that if Japan didn't control their embryonic demon problem that it would be become a world problem, Jack figured that he was still supporting the crown.

His father during World War II had been an artist attached to the military; painting and sketching troop life and battle scenes to send back home for the papers. Quite a few of his father's sketches were hanging in government offices and the one pride and joy in Jack's run down apartment was the watercolor his dad had painted following the landing at Normandy. Since he had been a little child Jack wanted nothing more than to follow in his father's footsteps and it had been quite a blow to his young ego to learn that he could neither paint nor draw for his life. Anything more complex than a cube and well it wasn't pretty. But then his father had introduced him to photography and Jack had found his calling. With the camera he only had to see beauty and then let the camera capture it.

Revitalized with his first of many 35 mm Single Lens Reflex cameras, Jack had entered into the world of photography and quickly found that in today's world there just wasn't the demand for war photographers. Jack had spent a few years trying to make ends meet as a freelance photographer, but eventually he had given in and joined up with one of the tabloids. At first he worked there as a freelance, but then as his worked picked up he eventually signed on fully as a regular staff photographer. He made a decent enough salary, the only problem was that the only assignments that he was given were chasing after various celebrities. A candid shot of an at the time popular pop star had gotten him in the door and his ability to always manage to get good shots kept him in. Whereas others in his profession more often than not were noticed and escorted away by security, Jack had always been able to remain unnoticed.

Deciding that there was nothing interesting on TV, Jack turned the set off. Getting up from the couch, he walked over to his dining room table, which was covered with various photography equipment, with lenses and filters strewn every witch direction. Picking up a trusted well worn camera body, Jack fingered it caringly. This particular camera body he considered to be his lucky camera. It had been a gift from his uncle's brother in-law on his eighteenth birthday and Jack had taken only a very few bad pictures with this one. This was also the one that he used when he was trying to get a hard to get photo. He knew he was just being superstitious as there was nothing special about the camera. In fact this one was purely a manual focus with no advanced features to aid the photographer, but yet he got his best results with it. He could not argue with the fact that he got such good results with it and so he let himself be superstitious and even put up with the craziness of his in-law who wanted to personally service the camera each year. Jack had no idea why the camera needed to be serviced so frequently, but it always seemed to work better when it was and putting up with the man's various eccentricities (such as being paid in actual silver) was well worth it.

_ Guess I better take you in for servicing before I leave at the end of the week. _Jack thought to himself as he placed the camera back down on the table. Tomorrow he would give George a call about taking a look at the camera. It was still a few months early, but he did not know how long he was going to remain in Japan and with what was happening there he wanted to have his equipment in its best shape. His mandate was simple: get pictures of the Sailor Senshi and get pictures of the battles – tell the people back home in pictures that there was a real war being fought there. He did not know what had made his boss suddenly interested in trumping up the war being fought in a foreign land, but Jack did not question the why. This was his dream assignment and the workings of his boss's mind were not his concern. And more importantly it was now time to go and celebrate. Tomorrow, while he was nursing his hangover he could ponder the why, assuming he had any more desire to do so.

* * *

Stirring slightly, Hotaru opened her eyes. Confused by her unfamiliar surrounding, she tried to move her body. However, that attempt was quickly aborted when anything more than the simplest movement caused her body to react in pain. _ Nani, what happened? _ she asked herself not remembering the incident from earlier that day.

Sitting on the ground, Liu who was watching over Hotaru saw that the young girl had awoken. Standing up, she walked over to the bedside table and immediately poured a glass of water. Then picking up the glass, she gave it to the grateful girl before helping her raise her upper body slightly so as to be better able to drink the water. And drink the water, Hotaru did, greedily gulping the water down as if she hadn't had any in days. Once Hotaru had finished off the glass with a slight blush of embarrassment, Liu took the glass back from Hotaru while giving her a smile, letting Hotaru know that there was nothing wrong with how fast she had drunken the water.

Feeling better after having the glass of water, but still not good enough to try to move out of the bed, Hotaru let herself be content with just turning her head to take in the room. As she looked around the room, she noticed that night had apparently fallen outside. Looking back at the woman who had helped her, she wondered who this stranger was and where Luna was. Hotaru watched the woman fuss with her bed sheets for a few moments before letting her gaze return to examining the room, this time looking at the ground. And the ground was where she found Luna who had apparently fallen asleep and was now curled up into a tight little ball. Smiling and wishing that she both had a camera and the energy to use one, Hotaru ended her examination and returned to just resting in the bed and slipped back off to sleep.

* * *

Walking down the street, Ikuko enjoyed the warm morning spring air. The day's weather was quite fitting for the Sunday that fell between one school year and the next, intrinsically imbuing a sense of rejuvenation. Even young children like ChibiUsa for whom the change from one school year to the next made little difference had their spirits uplifted at this time of the year. Both ChibiUsa and Diana had been quite ecstatic coming home from their last day of school. Seeing ChibiUsa's antics had made Ikuko think of her own daughter and how excited she was at every break in the school year. Whether it was summer break, the change between school years, or a minor break, Usagi always was excited when they came.

Thinking about the school years and Usagi, something that Ikuko had not thought of came to mind: high school entrance exams, for this coming school year was to be Usagi last year of Junior High. Ikuko remembered from her own experience how much time was required to prepare for the entrance exams and from talking with her friends, some of whom had children a few years older than Usagi, she knew that they had not gotten any easier. A year ago, Ikuko had often worried about whether or not her daughter would have the study skills to be even slightly prepared for them. Of course that all changed when Usagi became friends with Ami. While at first it seemed as if Usagi was having more of a downward effect on Ami's study habits than the other way around, the positive effect had finally become apparent shortly after ChibiUsa's arrival and Ikuko was able to rest easy knowing that while her daughter might not get into a top notch high school, she would still be able to get into a decent one. However, all of those worries now seemed meaningless to Ikuko as even if Usagi had the study habits of Ami she would never be able to recover from the lost time if she missed more than a month of two of school this next year. While there was the option of Usagi waiting till she had a full year of school before taking the exam, Ikuko knew that being separated from her friends would hit Usagi hard.

During all of her thoughts on the high school entrance exams there was no question in Ikuko's mind that Usagi would recover and that it would be within the next year, maybe two but no more than that. Ever since Kenji had rediscovered that photo of Usagi along with princess Serenity, Ikuko had known that Usagi was going to find a way back. After all as Kenji had put it, if Usagi could find a way to be in the right place for her previous life self who was thrown into the future, then finding a way to return to life to be here for her two daughters would be no problem and whereas before it was just herself she was helping, now it was her daughters and that just made it more inevitable.

However, as much as Ikuko knew that Usagi was going to revive within the next year, she also knew she was not going to walk by Usagi's room someday and just find Usagi awake. No, she knew that something special was going to have to happen to bring Usagi back and whatever it was it was some time off. And even though she knew that Usagi was going to be back, the time between now and then still hurt.

Crossing a final street, Ikuko reached her destination, her way of dealing with the pain. Starting up the steps that were built into the side of a hill, Ikuko already could feel her body and mind beginning to relax. Sometimes they met at her place, but more often than not the two of them met here. Walking under the gate and into the shrine's courtyard, Ikuko caught sight of the old priest.

"Konnichiwa Tsukino-san." greeted Hino-san without looking up from his task of sweeping.

"Konnichiwa Hino-san." Ikuko replied. "How did you know it was me?"

"The sense of loss in your aura matches the same loss in Rei's aura and to a lesser degree those of your daughter's friends." Hino said as he paused in his chore to turn to face Ikuko. "I must thank your for what you have down for Rei."

"Demo…" Ikuko began to say, intending to tell grandpa Hino that it was she who should be thanking him and his granddaughter.

"Iie, I know that Rei has helped you cope with your loss, but you have helped her just as much in coping with her own loss. I don't think you or any of the other realize just how much my granddaughter loved and cared for your daughter. Rei is a proud woman and so tried to hide how much Usagi affected her from both herself and the others, but I was able to see what Usagi meant to Rei. She was Rei's first friend since childhood and was the light of hope that Rei's inner strength needed to take hold. I know that Usagi affected most of the other girls in her group the same way, but with Rei, Usagi became the reason for living. Not only did Usagi give Rei the confidence to come out of her shell, but in Usagi, Rei saw something worth protecting, something worth living her life for. And so continued to give her strength every day."

"I had no idea." Ikuko said stunned, never having realized the depth of feelings that Rei must have felt for Usagi. While she had learned that Rei cared quite deeply for Usagi through their mutual consoling sessions, she had just thought of Usagi being Rei's best friend.

"Like I said, Rei tried to keep the truth from everyone, even herself and especially from Usagi. The only reason why I know the truth is that contrary to what Rei might think at times. I am quite far from being senile and was able over time to notice and realize the signs of Rei's feelings. Once I realized that in her heart that Rei saw Usagi as a very close sister, Rei's feelings with regard to Usagi were like an open book to me.

"So once again I must thank you for taking the time to help Rei. I know that your primary reason for helping Rei is to cope with your own grief. However, you could very easily have blamed Rei for what happened, I know Rei did. Instead, you reached out and pulled Rei out of own cocoon of blame to seek your own comfort."

Stunned by what grandpa Hino had said, Ikuko managed nothing more than a simple "You're welcome" before taking her leave and making he way to the living quarters. As she walked the final meters, she thought, _ I guess it does make sense. After all there were all those times when I checked in on Usagi and ChibiUsa and found Rei asleep in the room as well and there was that time that Usagi had "ranted" about Rei coming to her school over lunch. _ With grandpa Hino's declaration, the pieces of the puzzle finally began to fit together and Ikuko realized that he had been quite right. _ Guess the gift I have for Rei is in retrospect quite appropriate. _ Ikuko thought to herself as she patted the bundle that was in her purse.

* * *

Bright sunlight was streaming into the hut the second time that Hotaru awoke. Awaking, Hotaru was forced to blink her eyes a few times while she waited for them to adjust, as the sun was so bright. Lowering her arms, which had on their own stretched out, Hotaru realized that her body no longer hurt. Laying there for a few moments, she mentally examined her body and decided that she just felt sore all over, but nothing more and sore all over was not a new feeling – she had felt it quite a many times after some of the longer days of hiking as well after some of her more severe seizures. She also had noticed that her hands were bandaged, but they did not hurt too bad so she filed that away for worrying about later. With that issue taken care of, Hotaru's mind then turned to the second mystery of why she was indoors. Knowing that she wouldn't get the answers lying here in bed, as warm as it was, Hotaru lifted the covers off her body and swung her legs out over the edge of the bed.

Standing up, Hotaru noticed that she was wearing a simple night gown. _ Now why do I feel like I should be wearing my Sailor Fuku instead? _ Hotaru thought to herself as she took in the strange night gown. But even as she mentally asked herself that question, the memories of the previous day began to return. With a giggle, Hotaru said softly to herself "Well I guess that explains why I don't feel so well." before turning back to the bed to look for her Fuku.

After a thorough examination of the bed, beneath it and the table side, Hotaru came up empty with regard to the fuku itself and her gloves. She, however, was able to find her boots, choker, and jewelry neatly piled together at the end of her bed. Shrugging over the missing uniform, Hotaru put it aside as something to ask Luna about later and instead proceeded to put on her jewelry and choker before finishing with lacing up her boots, a process that was hindered slightly by her bandaged right hand. Standing up once she had finished, Hotaru was surprised to find that she actually felt a little more complete like this.

Looking around the hut a final time, Hotaru decided it was time to head on outside and to find something to play with. Unfortunately, just the act of walking to the door managed to tire out her legs. Resting against the wall beside the door, Hotaru began to wonder if going outside was such a great idea, while old fears of her previous illness began to start worming their way into her mind. As Hotaru lay there against the wall, she began looking around the room once again – seeing it now in the morning's light.

By the time she had finished her second look over of the room, she figured she was ready to try lumbering a few steps outside. Maybe she would get lucky and be able to find a place to sit down in the sun not too far from her current location. And so, pushing herself away from the wall, she walked the final few paces to the door. Hotaru was about to push open the door when her eyes caught sight of the Silence Glaive sitting there on the other side of the door. Realizing that she could use the tall weapon as a walking stick, Hotaru's mood perked up substantially and she reached out and took a hold of the weapon. As she grasped it, she felt a warmth of energy flow into her body as some more of the exhaustion left. Shifting the glaive to her right hand and now with a true smile on her face, Hotaru pushed open the door and stepped out into the day, using the Silence Glaive as a very fancy walking stick.

Leaving the confines of the hut, Hotaru's gaze immediately went wide as she began to take in the sights of the village. If she had been asked to describe even one feature of the village before she had left the hut, she would have been unable to do so. In racing to the source of the fire, her mind had been too focused on the pending tragedy that she had failed to take any notice of the village itself. And so, now seeing the village for the first time, Hotaru was overwhelmed by the sights. And while the village was not that much different from many other villages that she and Luna had stopped at, it was new and that all that her child mind needed so as to be impressed.

With her gaze focused fully outwards on sight seeing, Hotaru was relying on her initial observation of nothing being in a straight line path away from the hut. Unfortunately, that observation was no longer true, for as soon as she had left the hut, she had been spotted and a pair of blurs were now streaking her away from where the two of them had been previously helping their mother. Hotaru's first indication as to the presence of the two was when one of them locked onto both of her legs with a tight hug, causing her to fall to the ground. Hitting hard, Hotaru briefly saw stars before all the air was forcibly ejected from of lungs when the second blur impacted her chest.

Dazed as she was, it took Hotaru a few moments to gather her wits and discover that it was a pair of children around four years of age who had taken out one of the Sailor Senshi. Smiling to herself over imaging what ChibiUsa's reaction would have been if she had been here, on the ground laughing her head off, Hotaru reached down with her arms to embrace the two children. Smiling as she felt their fear over having just knocked her to the ground disappear back into their gratitude, Hotaru decided to carefully look over the rest of her surroundings to make sure that she did not have another set of incoming children to worry about. Seeing no one that she needed to worry about, Hotaru returned her attention to her two glompers and as she did so, the memory of that night escape from the Crown Fruit Parlor came to mind again. And with that memory, Hotaru thought, _ This must be why momma was happy those times. _

"Li, Mei get off of Hotaru!" a female voice, which Hotaru figured belonged to the mother of the two kids, called out – the magics of her Sailor Fuku translating the woman's words to Japanese for Hotaru.

The two kids reacted instantly to their mother's yell and Hotaru quickly found herself alone on the ground. Carefully standing back up, Hotaru made sure to retrieve her Glaive. Now using the Glaive even more for support, Hotaru turned to look at the woman and said, "It's ok. I just need to pay attention next time."

Obviously still embarrassed by the behavior of her two children, the mother said, "Still they shouldn't have jumped you like that, especially after what you have done for our village."

"I'm a Sailor Senshi, it's what I do." Hotaru said in reply. Then kneeling down to look into the eyes of the two kids she reached out a hand to rough their hair as she said to each, "Now take care." before standing and taking her leave. Unbeknownst to her as she had declared herself to be a Sailor Senshi, the gown had exploded into a shower of green motes of light only to reform as her Sailor Fuku. It was not till some time later that Hotaru even realized that was once again fully wearing her fuku.

* * *

That night, as promised, a party raged through the village – a party the likes of which the village had never seen before. For the villagers the party was a celebration of the miracle wrought by the foreign child who had wandered into their lands and for that miracle they spared no hesitation, pulling out their finest wares. Within moments of Li and Mei running through the streets shouting that Hotaru was awake, the party preparations had begun. Choice meats were slaughtered for the dishes that would take all day to cook, red lanterns were pulled out of storage and fireworks were sorted.

While the sights of preparations for the celebration were hard to miss, the evening's festivities still took Hotaru by surprise and brought a wide eyed smile to her face, especially when a brilliant star shell announcing her arrival went off with a sharp salute. Hotaru's failure to notice the preparations can be forgiven, though, for while the evening's celebration was to be the official thanks from the village to Hotaru, every one of the villagers had seen fit to personally thank Hotaru during the day, and as such Hotaru more often than not saw a crowd of people instead of the village. By lunch time, she had resorted to escaping to the fields to find some quiet, not that that was too successful either. While by being out in the fields she had managed to escape from the adults, the children of the village had very quickly found her and before long they were trading stories and then not long after that the group was off getting themselves into mischief with a purple suited Senshi as their temporary leader.

When Hotaru had finally returned to the hut in the late afternoon, Luna had insisted Hotaru lay down for a nap so as to rest from her fun filled day. After awakening from that nap, the two of them had cleaned up for the night's activities before leaving their hut and walking out into a street now lit brightly by glowing red lanterns as the sun set in the sky. Outside of their hut, they were met by one of the villagers who escorted them down to the center of the village where the party was set up. Arriving at the edge of what was clearly the party area their escort had them wait for a few moments before letting them walk ahead. When they were held up, Luna had thought it was so that they could be announced as was done at official functions back on the Moon, but when their escort then let them go without anything happening, Luna was confused. The answer, however, came just a few moments later when they stepped into the brightly lit region and a mortar was launched. As wide eyed as Hotaru was with the sight in front of her, the trail of the firecracker rocketing into the air caught her attention and she followed it rise. When it exploded into a bright umbrella of falling violet luminescent metal with a loud retort, Hotaru could not help but to smile and to exclaim, "Sugoi!"

From the moment that the echoing of the salute finished reverberating, the party swung into action as music began and Hotaru and Luna were escorted to their place of honor. Food, drink, and entertainment soon followed and through it all, Hotaru's smile continued to increase. Watching Hotaru watch with awe an illusionist perform in front of their table, Luna could not help but smile herself. Picking up her glass, she absently noted that the glass was again full before raising it in a salute to her charge – an action which had been quite common for everyone at to engage in this evening.

Clapping in appreciation of the performance, Hotaru looked back once again at her place and noticed that someone had placed yet more meat on her plate. Picking up the bone, she tentatively sniffed the piece, gave a quick smile, and then proceeded to rip into the meat with a ferocity that would have impressed Usagi. Savoring the delicious flavors of this particular item, Hotaru quickly took another bite. Beside her, Luna looked on in awe wondering how Usagi managed to pass onto Hotaru her appetite just by adopting the girl. She had seen Hotaru and ChibiUsa eat enough times together in the past to know that the young girl did not have a large appetite, but yet here she was making a very good impression of a teenaged Usagi – Luna did not believe that ChibiUsa would have been able to keep up. _ Well it is a festival and these dishes are quite tasty. _ Luna thought to herself as she hate her piece more sedately. _ Though I guess I better be prepared for a bad case of stomach aches tomorrow, we probably are not going to be going any where. _

Taking a long drink from her glass, Hotaru let out a content little burp. Blushing in embarrassment, Hotaru felt a firm hand slap into her back. Turning to her left she saw the smiling face of the village chief, Yue.

"Nothing to be ashamed of there Hotaru. With all of the good food that we have here tonight, it would be a shame to let air take up valuable space." Yue said with a smile.

"Thank you." Hotaru replied shyly.

"Just make sure you save room for desert, my wife has a special treat for you." Yue replied.

"Oh?" Hotaru asked her interest perked.

"Yep." The chief said with a smile before grabbing a carafe to refill his and Hotaru's glasses. Then lifting his glass in a toast with Hotaru he asked after they had drunk, "Hotaru if I may be so bold, but what are you?"

Putting down her own glass, Hotaru replied, "I am the planet Saturn. My soul is entwined with that of the star of Destruction, giving me the power to protect." Hotaru replied in a tone not quite of her own and with a maturity beyond her years. Throughout the day, Hotaru had been wondering and dreading the moment when someone would ask her about her powers and when the villagers were going to toss her out for being a demon. However, by the time the question was asked with all of the wine she had consumed, even if they did dilute down what they were serving her, she had relaxed to the point where the asking about her Sailor powers was no different than asking about her lantern collection.

Taking another sip of her drink, Hotaru continued her explanation, this time consciously responding. "My mom and her friends are like me and they protect Tokyo from the demons with powers of the planet. I think momma said they're reborn warriors." Hotaru said with pride evident in her voice.

"Your mom what is she like?" Yue's wife who sat to the left of her husband asked.

"She's beautiful and has wonderful hugs. She took me in after the last battle. She's Sailor Moon and was these great big wings." Hotaru replied and while describing how big the wings were she threw her arms apart emphatically, accidentally knocking over Luna's glass, but not noticing.

"Wings?" the chief replied with some surprise, which prompted Hotaru to describe the one time she went flying with Usagi, including the battle and the fall from the sky. By the time the conversation broke for the start of evening's finale, the fireworks show, the chief had learned a great deal about the Sailor Senshi and now truly believed this young's child's promise that she would take care of the bandit problem which had been plaguing the village. None of the villagers knew quite why the warlord who reigned over this region had taken a recent interest in their village. But because of his recent interest, bandit raids had been increasing and the previous day's incident had been the warlord's retaliation for some recent attempts in resistance.

Earlier in the day, before Hotaru had made her escape from the village, she had inquired as to how the children had come to be chained in the burning building. The explanation she had been told had caused Hotaru's eyes to glow briefly before she had vowed to "Punish them in the name of Saturn." As one of Yue's friends had described it, for a moment it was if a powerful dragon had been awoken from its slumber, but then the moment passed and the child returned. Yue would have discounted his friend's recounting as some pre-party partying if it were not for the others who had also recounted the same event and for the omens that the village astrologer had been saying that the stars were foretelling. For the past few weeks they all had been awaiting the change of fate that was coming and with the young foreign girl's arrival it appeared that the time had come. And so, a nine year old's claim that she would take care of the bandit problem was taken at face value, providing further reason for this evening's celebration.

As the fireworks burst in the sky causing the crowd to oh and ah, Luna leaned back in her chair to enjoy the chilly spring evening. A summer night would have been a little more pleasant for the party, the dancers would especially have preferred the warmer weather, but Luna knew that this was the type of party that one could not postpone. Even if there had been a blizzard everyone would still have been gathered here outdoors and the dancers would still be wearing those silk costumes. Looking over at Hotaru, Luna saw that she was once again talking with the village Chief. _ First thing I need to do when we get back to Tokyo_ _is to get Ami working on developing some kind of universal translator. _ Luna thought to herself. While Luna would not admit it to anybody and especially not Usagi, she was actually little annoyed / jealous with how Hotaru due to her Senshi magic was able to speak fluently with the locals, while she was stuck being unable to communicate. Thinking about how Usagi would react if she learned that Luna was not always so proper, Luna suddenly realized something. With the Senshi magic that Usagi's henshin emulated, Usagi probably already had a personal translation spell built in, which meant that she would never need to cast a wide area translation spell when she was in her Sailor Moon form, meaning that she, Luna, would still be out of luck. And, Luna had no doubt that at least for a long while that Usagi would prefer to talk to others as Sailor Moon instead of princess Serenity. Realizing that, Luna knew that even if Hotaru some how found a way to awake Usagi before they got back home; she still needed to have Ami put together that translator. She would of course study the important languages as well, but as she was quickly learning from this trip, the need to be able to speak any language was important too.

Leaning forward to take another bite of her pudding, Luna returned her attention to the firework display which appeared to be working it way to its own finale. After a few more bites, Luna decided that she had had enough, actually she had had enough a long while ago, but now she had reached her absolute limit. And so, with some reluctance Luna placed down the spoon and pushed the half eaten bowl of pudding away. She had just finished pushing the bowl away when a larger bonk caught her attention along with that of the revelers who were seated near by. Turning to her left, Luna smirked as she caught sight of Hotaru fast asleep, face down in her pudding, and snoring up a storm.

Even before Luna had a chance to move, Yue had gently lifted Hotaru away from the bowl and someone else had already taken care of cleaning the girl's face. Then with Hotaru's face cleaned, Yue gently picked Hotaru up and began to carry the sleeping child on out. Following close behind, Luna stifled a laugh as she thought of how ChibiUsa and Usagi would have reacted in matched outrage to seeing Hotaru ruin a perfectly good pudding like she had. From the amount of pudding that Hotaru had managed to splatter everywhere, Luna suspected that Hotaru had not had more than a few bites of it before falling asleep.

* * *

Stepping out of the furo, Rei donned her robe, before leaving the bathroom and heading to her room. Entering her bedroom, she walked over to her bed and began to change into her night clothes. As she did, so she mentally ran through a checklist of the items that she would need for school tomorrow, occasionally glancing over to her desk to double check on an item. Finishing up with her tally shortly after she finished changing into her night wear, Rei tried to think of anything else that she might have forgotten. When after a few minutes of pondering she was unable to think of anything else, she decided that she was all set. _ Of course Usagi would probably still have her stuff strewn about her room. _ Rei thought with a smile. Gazing over to her bedside table as she finished that thought, Rei took a few minutes to stare at the photo, a photo that Ikuko had given her that morning.

Receiving that photo had cleared up one particular question, which had been bothering Rei for the past week – how come Ikuko seemed to suddenly be handling Usagi's loss so much better. Rei had begun to wondering if there was something wrong with herself as to why she was not healing as quickly as Ikuko. However, that was all answered when Ikuko had handed her that framed picture this morning. Moving to sit down on her bed, Rei reached out a hand and tentatively traced the faces of each of the two Usagis in the picture, understanding just as Ikuko did what this photo meant. The others would never understand how this photo of Usagi and Serenity from shortly after Usagi's brother's birth gave the two of them not just hope but certainty. But Rei was okay with that, she understood and that was all that mattered. Now her heart felt hope once again and she knew that as painful as this loss was it was only temporary.

When she had received the photo from Ikuko she had been stunned by the image and while she had not fainted, she figured that she probably would have been better off if she had. When she had finally recovered from her shock quite a few minutes later, Ikuko had told her the story of that day and Rei had broken into tears when she had realized what the story meant. The two of them had spent their morning together discussing that day as they had worked around the shrine. Then later that afternoon, Rei had slipped into the Fire room to perform a reading with the picture as its basis. Before she had never been able to get anywhere when she had tried to perform a reading on Usagi, but now with her heart no longer crying out in grief, the fire finally responded to her wishes. And while what she got from the fire was not much more than the sense of love and patience, it was all that she needed. Falling asleep with Usagi's face in her mind, Rei knew that it was only a matter of time before her friend returned to the world of the living.

* * *

Setting the headset back down on its cradle, Ikuko sighed. With all of the excitement of the past few weeks, she had completely forgotten about her sister's upcoming doctor's appointment. Once a year Misaki came into the city for a series of medical tests at the hospital during which time she would spend a couple days with Ikuko before heading back home. As her appointment was bright and early in the morning, she would arrive the day before and then it would be a day or two before she had sufficiently recovered from some of the more painful tests and was ready to make the drive back to the country. Misaki's early June appointment was so routine and had been occurring since Usagi was just a few years old that Ikuko never gave it much of a thought and so when Misaki's absently mentioned the upcoming trip during their weekly phone call and how she was looking forward to seeing Usagi, Shingo, and ChibiUsa again, Ikuko's mind was thrown for a loop.

Now with her sister off the phone, Ikuko took a seat at the kitchen table and tried to think of how she was going to handle this situation. Explaining away why Usagi was encased in a crystal would be difficult and even if they kept that from Misaki, she knew that her sister would be able to easily see the sorrow in ChibiUsa's eyes. _ I can't let Misaki learn the truth because ChibiUsa broke down, that would destroy my granddaughter. _ Ikuko thought to herself. Standing back up, Ikuko decided to go find Kenji and to see what thoughts he might have, she wished that Luna was still around as she was sure that that cat would have had some useful insight into how to handle the situation. Though, if Ikuko had known how dead set against Usagi's decision on how to handle ChibiUsa Luna initially was, she might have reconsidered that desire.

-End chapter

Author Notes:

- I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out. I had hoped to get it out closer to the start of the year, but ended up not working on it that much during December and January. I have only recently come to realize how much of my writing I tended to do on the weekday nights – something that I am not able to do that much anymore. Four hour writing sessions starting late at night do wonders for getting the chapters written; unfortunately, being fully functional the following day tends to be a bit of an issue.

-For those of you wondering where the rest of the Senshi are, this chapter was primarily designed to focus on Hotaru and her recovery. But no fear, the rest of the Senshi will be making their appearances next chapter, especially since the Amazon Trio will be making an appearance of their own. And with that we will see how well the Sailor Senshi can fare minus Sailor Moon. For the fans of Sailor Q, don't worry he (or is that she now?) will be making an appearance again next chapter

-For any of the Stargate SG1 fans out there might I suggest "Three Men and Little Astrophysicist" by ReganX, which is a quite humorous story and written well enough that I could actually see it being a real episode (especially given how the show's writers have no problem with self-spoofing). And for everyone, I would suggest checking out the work by MysticMew. The stories are quite well written and make good use of the full series cannon. While a Hotaru-Minako pairing might seem quite out of left field (and did keep me from reading for a while), the stories build the pairing up quite well so that it fits well with the Sailor Moon universe.


	5. Chapter 4: First Blood

**The Fragility of Time**  
**BOOK THREE: Star Dust Memories;**  
**Chapter 4: First Blood**  
First Posted: 7/16/06  
Lasted Edited: 7/16/06

Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story, all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only so freely and inform me of where you post it.

Hiking along the side of what went for a road in the region, Hotaru and Luna, in her cat form, were making good time to their destination. Hearing a grumble come from Hotaru's stomach, Luna smirked briefly before suggesting that the two of them take a break for lunch. So far they had been hiking two and a half days and by her estimation they probably only had a few hours left to go. Till now they had been following the roads so as to make better time. But, now that they were within a few hours time, Luna figured that following lunch that it would be a good idea to make the rest of the journey within the cover of the forest. While hiking through the brush would slow them down some, it would also hopefully reduce the chance that they might run into any surprises. _ And anyways nightfall would be the best time for Hotaru to take action. _ Luna thought to herself as she removed her lunch from her pack.

Sitting down beside a tree, Luna began to eat one of her rice balls. As she did so her thoughts turned to the crash course in Sailor Senshi training she had given Hotaru over the past three weeks. Just getting Hotaru to agree to that training had been a Herculean effort all in of itself – being even harder than waking Usagi up on-time on a school day. It was not because Hotaru did not want to train; no she was very eager for that. No the issue had been that Hotaru had wanted to leave that very morning after the celebration. She had already been wearing her frame pack before Luna had finally convinced Hotaru to wait a few days. Reasonable reasons as for why Hotaru should have waited, such as needing to wait till her hands were no longer bandaged from her burns, resting for a few days to regain her energy, or taking some time to train had no effect on the young girl. It was only in desperation and with a tone that was starting to show frustration that Luna had asked Hotaru as to what the young girl's powers were. That question had brought Hotaru up short. Her young charge had stood there for a few moments racking her mind for an answer before finally replying with "umm… I can heal and I can take my Senshi form and I have the glaive."

With the need for some training agreed upon, the two of them had begun a full day training regime. Knowing that she was working against a clock that was comprised of Hotaru's patience, the warlord attacking another village, and the need resume their journey before the trace of magic that Hotaru was following faded again in getting Hotaru sufficiently trained, Luna worked Hotaru from dawn to dusk and gave her just three one hour breaks during the day – an hour break in the morning and afternoon to play and an hour long break for lunch and some more play plus half hour breaks for breakfast and dinner. And while it would have been even more efficient considering their time crunch to have also cut out the playtime, Luna recognized that while Hotaru may be a soldier she was still also just a child and therefore deserved to be able to enjoy at least some of her youth.

Through the process of training Hotaru, Luna quickly found some of her own memories of the Silver Millennium becoming more clear – in particular those dealing with the training sessions of the young Sailor Venus. With Venus and Serenity being born less than a year apart, the two had been nearly inseparable friends as children and the young princess had often enjoyed attending Venus's training sessions as an observer and had of course more often than not brought Luna along with her. For the Sailor Senshi, combat and magic training took the place of sports activities and the training was begun at a very young age. Of course in the early years, the training resembled games more than anything else – games that were designed to get the young Sailor Senshi to develop her powers. Only when the child was around 7 years old did they begin receiving more formal training and instruction. That was also the age when the young Senshi would begin wearing her fuku as well.

Taking a few more bites of her lunch, Luna felt that in reflection that given her limitations and the short time that she had to work with that she had done quite well. While Hotaru was nowhere near the level of the others, her basic skills had improved quite well and what she needed now more than anything was some actual combat practice to firm up the lessons and to give the young girl some confidence. Given how much progress Hotaru had made, Luna wondered if she should consider something similar for the others. There was no doubt in her mind now that letting the other girls attend school was hindering their development. Even back in the peaceful times of the Silver Millennium combat training was considered to be of higher priority than regular schooling for the chosen children. They were still schooled, they were considered to be princesses after all; the schooling was just different and was fitted in around the rest of the young warrior's training.

_ No, I can't do that to them. As much as they would benefit from forgoing their schooling, Usagi would never have allowed it and I will respect her wishes. Maybe when I get back I can discuss possible options with Ami, Minako, and Artemis as how to increase the amount of hours spent training. Maybe split their vacations fifty-fifty. _ Luna decided after a few minutes of contemplation. _ However, Hotaru's schooling is already going to be screwed up with this trip of ours. _ Luna's thoughts continued on after a pause as she decided that with respect to Hotaru that the Senshi of Saturn would not return to school until she had sufficiently mastered her powers.

Surfacing from her thoughts for a few moments, Luna glanced over to check on Hotaru and noticed that her companion had finished her rice balls and was now starting to eat a candy treat, which had been provided by the villagers. Watching as Hotaru took her first bite of the treat, Luna had a hard time picturing Hotaru right now as the fierce warrior that Sailor Saturn was supposed to be, she just looked too cute. _ But then again most people wouldn't give Usagi a second glance either. _ Luna thought to herself before turning back to her lunch and unwrapping her own candy.

As Luna began to munch on the candy, she smirked slightly as she thought of another area in which Hotaru and Usagi were quite similar – their initial fighting abilities. Both girls were pretty much disasters waiting to happen due to their lack of coordination.

Though, as Luna took another bite, she did admit to herself that when she first began training Hotaru that she was no picture of grace either. That initially uncoordinated period lasted less than a day for Luna, which was how long it took her human form muscles to relearn their training. But from just experiencing a few hours without natural feline grace gave her a very good appreciation for how Usagi felt with all of those klutz attacks, particularly after she performed a couple ofe very spectacular face plants. Though, she at least had a good excuse – her human form was not her natural form and as such it took a little time for her muscles to remember how to move while sparring. Luna initially focused her efforts in teaching Hotaru to fight unarmed and only when the young girl's motions began to develop a natural fluidity as Hotaru moved from attacking to blocking and dodging did Luna move onto armed combat with wooden staves and finally to having Hotaru use the glaive itself.

While the days were spent with physical training, Luna spent the evenings lecturing Hotaru on magical theory. Her goal being to help Hotaru figure out what her attacks were. Unlike the rest of the Senshi, Luna had no knowledge of what Sailor Saturn's attacks might be and therefore could only guide Hotaru in the most general ways. If she had been present during the Mugen incident or inside the burning building when it collapsed she would have had something more concrete, but as it was the only times when the powers of Saturn were used she was elsewhere. Though, even with that handicap they had been able to eventually stumble across two powers of Saturn – the first being the Silence Wall along with its more powerful version the Silence Dome and the second being an attack in which the power of Saturn was directed into the blade of the glaive, which resulted in it glowing with a eerie purple light, and causing it to instantly turn any objects that it sliced into dust.

This was not surprising since she had used the Silence Dome in saving the children, the first power that Hotaru discovered was that of her Silence wall. While Hotaru did not remember anything more than scattered fragments of what had occurred that afternoon, the pathways for the casting of the spell had still ingrained themselves into Hotaru's body and as such the only thing required for the rediscovery of the power was the right prompting – prompting which occurred just shy of two weeks into Hotaru's training.

* * *

That day had been like many of the others in that Hotaru and Luna had spent the morning sparing.

Knocking Hotaru to the ground, Luna brought her staff back up into a loose carry as she walked over the other younger girl. "Hotaru you are doing very well. Why don't we take a break now for lunch" Luna said as she reached down to help Hotaru up.

"Hai, Arigato Luna-sensei." Hotaru said as she returned to her feet.

"I wonder what Li-san has made today." Hotaru said a few minutes later as she and Luna began to approach the village with an eager voice.

"I don't know, but it is probably something good as always." Luna replied as she walked beside Hotaru. She was glad to note that Hotaru was continuing to sound happy to be heading back to the village. For the first few days of their stay, Hotaru had been becoming less and less eager to return to the village each day. At first Luna had thought it was because Hotaru had wanted to be taking care of the person who had attacked those kids, but then she had realized that Hotaru was feeling homesick. Some what surprised that Hotaru would be now showing signs of homesickness, Luna had realized that something must be bothering Hotaru. As a result, she began to carefully watch Hotaru's moods and quickly discovered the cause.

As a result of the miracle that Hotaru had performed in saving the children, the villagers saw Hotaru as a messenger from the heavens and as such treated her with the reverence that they felt she justly deserved. Unfortunately, no one had thought to remember that as powerful as Hotaru was supposed to be that she was still a child and that the formality and deep respect that they used in interacting with her might be instead interpreted as dislike by Hotaru. Even Luna had failed to realize the effect at first, as her mind saw the treatment as normal given her own past of growing up with Serenity in the Moon palace. Once she had realized what was bothering Hotaru, she had then pent an evening attempting to convince the villagers to treat Hotaru just like any other child. That had of course been quite a struggle in diplomacy given that she did not speak the language. The actual explanation had taken many hours, limited as she was to some simple English words, gestures, and acting out parts. But eventually she had somehow managed to get her point across that by treating Hotaru like a princess they were making her homesick and feel like she was unwelcome. That discussion had been just three days ago and already Hotaru was perking up and appeared to feeling like she was welcome to be part of the village community.

Lost as she was in her thoughts and reflections as to how Hotaru was doing, Luna failed to notice a group of boys sitting on a large tree branch that overhung the trail. The boys like the rest of the children had very quickly warmed up to Hotaru and had only spent a few days being awed by her. For the most part they had been well behaved knowing that their parents would be very upset if they did anything to the honored guest. But once the adults began to treat Hotaru like the rest of the children, the self restraint began to give way to the immaturity of youth, an immaturity that was being helped along by the shortness of the Sailor fuku skirt – Luna had Hotaru do all of her training in her Sailor Fuku so as to avoid the wear and tear on her regular clothes.

Watching gleefully as their target approached, the three boys silently gestured to each other as they made some slight adjustments to the positioning of the large bucket of laundry water that they had hauled up into the tree. The leader of the group, Jin, noticed that Hotaru was looking down at the ground. Frowning at that, he realized that he would need to do something if he wanted her to make this prank really spectacular. After all dropping water on an icky girl's head was one thing, but to do it when she was looking up at it was another. Grinning to himself he looped his legs around a branch and then just as Hotaru was about to walk under he let himself drop.

"Nani!" Hotaru cried out as she saw a face suddenly pop out of nowhere. Then seeing him gesture upwards, she turned her head up and froze as she saw a sheet of water falling her ways. Reacting purely on instinct, she threw her left arm up but instead of bending the arm so that it covered her face she kept her elbow straight. Also splaying out her hand, she quietly said "Silence Wall."

_ Ugh now I am going to be all wet... _ Hotaru thought to herself as she prepared herself to be soaked. However, the expected soaking never came. Opening her eyes, she saw that a violet barrier was extending outward from her left hand. "Nani-ka." she said as her mind started to take in what had happened and then in the next moment she had grabbed her left hand with her right and was jumping around and hollering while thinking _ I did it! I did it! I have used one of my powers! _

From her position beside Hotaru, Luna had also seen the onslaught of water and had also raised her arm to protect herself; though, in Luna's case she did so in the more normal manner. While Luna was far enough to the side that she should have been able to avoid most of the water, the use of the Silence Wall had resulted in the deflection of the water from Hotaru to Luna. And as such, the human form Luna was now looking very much like a drowned cat.

Completely unaware of her mentor's soaking, Hotaru continued to jump around. Pausing in her jumping for a moment, she summoned her Glaive. _ Luna did mention that my powers should be stronger with the glaive. _ Hotaru thought as she looked at the shining metal of the blade. Then deciding to give it a try, she called at "Silence Wall" again and this time was rewarded with an even stronger looking barrier. "Hai!" she exclaimed happily as she dropped the barrier and turned around to look at Luna.

"Luna-chan why are you all wet?" Hotaru asked as she finally noticed that Luna was sopping wet.

Instead of answering Hotaru, Luna instead turned her gaze to the boys up in the tree and narrowed her eyes. Seeing the very unhappy gaze of one young woman, the three boys gulped as they realized that they should have been running away instead of being stunned over what Hotaru had done. A growl escaping from Luna's throat spurred the boys into action and in the blink of an eye they were back down on the ground running as fast as their legs could carry them.

Watching them run away, Luna's predatory instincts kicked in. Shifting her stance so that she was slightly lower to the ground she was about to begin the hunt when she was suddenly sidetracked by Hotaru tackling her. Quickly rolling back onto her feet after hitting the ground, Luna looked at Hotaru with a questioning look that quickly softened as she saw the utter joy that was bubbling through her young charge.

"Luna-chan, Luna-chan I did it!" Hotaru exclaimed as she once again glomped onto Luna.

"Hai that you did Hotaru." Luna replied as she returned the hug.

* * *

As Luna and Hotaru ate their lunch and Luna fondly remembered how Hotaru had mastered the ability to cast the Silence Wall and later its variant the Silence Dome, Ikuko was heading to an appointment in downtown Tokyo. Finding the building she wanted, she walked in and headed to the elevators. Getting off at the 42 floor she then walked into the Natsume law offices.

"Tsukino-san I understand that you have a trust fund issue that you would like my firm's help with?" Natsume Kohaku said a few minutes later as he entered the lobby and greeted Ikuko.

"Hai that is right. As a result of some very unique circumstances with our family situation there are some difficult complications with respect to claiming the trust fund." Ikuko replied as she followed Kohaku into the conference room.

"Well I am sure that we will be able to help you with gaining access to the trust fund." Kohaku said as he held out a chair for Ikuko before taking one himself. "Why don't you explain to me the basics of the situation and then I will ask some questions to fill in the details that we will need for dealing with the state and the bank."

"Hai, well I am sure that you are familiar with Tomoe-sensei the one responsible for the recent demon mess."

"Hai." Kohaku replied wondering where this was going.

"Well his daughter was a very good friend of my granddaughter." Ikuko said, perking Kohaku's attention, not because of Ikuko knowing the daughter of Tomoe-sensei but in that she said that she had a granddaughter, as he did not think her to be that old. "She is such a good friend that following the incident at Mugen, my daughter offered to adopt Hotaru as her own daughter. Unfortunately, my daughter was injured during the battle and is currently in a coma."

Understanding some of the basic aspects, Kohaku, said, "Well so far this doesn't appear to be too complicated. I do see your hesitation with your daughter's current condition as during the early months of the adoption there is always the potential that something serious like this might cause the courts to overturn the adoption. I assume that the adoption has been approved?"

"Hai it has" Ikuko replied as she handed Kohaku a copy of the adoption papers. "However, there is another complication. My daughter, Usagi, is only fourteen years old."

Blinking hard, Kohaku almost dropped his pen as Ikuko laid out that little revelation. _ Okay… I think I now see where the complication comes in. _ "You did say fourteen as still in junior high, right?"

"Hai that is correct. Like I said there are some very unusual circumstances."

"If you don't mind me asking, how was the adoption even approved? I would think that it would have been outright rejected."

"No its okay and I don't really understand why myself either and that is one reason why I came to see you. I had expected to have to break Hotaru's heart when children services finally came to take her to a foster family. The only thing I can think of is that Sailor Moon supposedly blessed the adoption before her death."

"Yes I can see that carrying a lot of weight. Ideally it would have been best if we had that in writing, but even a signed affidavit from one of the other Sailor Senshi should be sufficient." Kohaku said thinking through how this blessing would work. Then reaching the last part of Ikuko statement, he once again felt as if he had suddenly slammed into a wall. "Wait what do you mean by Sailor Moon's death?"

"Hai that is correct. I know it isn't common knowledge yet as only the tabloids have been carrying the story so far, as the mainstream media is still trying to avoid covering the Sailor Senshi and demons. My guess is that many of their reporters and editors are reluctant to give up their world view. It obviously won't last for long, but I am glad as it has allowed my family to grieve for our loss in peace in I am sure that the Sailor Senshi feel the same way with their loss. But getting back to your question, I learned of Sailor Moon's death when they told me about what had happened to my daughter. I learned that Sailor Moon had died saving my daughter and now two granddaughters. They hadn't wanted to bring up her sacrifice, but I could see the sorrow and pressed them and learned what had happened. I only wished that the three of them hadn't been visiting Hotaru's father that day." Ikuko said giving the story that she, Ami, Minako, Diana, Kenji, and Rikou had come up with. They had all realized that in securing the trust fund for Hotaru that they would need a cover story for why Usagi and ChibiUsa were at Mugen. And that furthermore that they would need some way to deflect people from making the connection that Sailor Moon and Usagi are one in the same due to both being seriously injured. As such they had decided that the official story would be that Sailor Moon had died in the line of duty and with the shattering of the Ginzuishou and what had happened to ChibiUsa's powers that seemed like a reasonable explanation. What to do with Usagi's Senshi form when she awoke would be something to worry about when the time came.

* * *

Following their brief rest for lunch, Hotaru and Luna had resumed traveling. Heading through the woods this time, the two discussed strategy for what Hotaru was to do once they arrived at their destination. No longer fueled by the blood lust that had practically overtaken the young girl when she had learned why the children how been chained inside of that burning building, Hotaru was no longer quite sure what she wanted to do. She still wanted to make these people pay, but at the same time she did not want to kill anyone.

"Hotaru I think your glaive attack would be the most useful." Luna suggested

"Iie not that attack!" Hotaru instantly responded with trepidation in her voice. "Iie, Iie."

Walking up beside Hotaru, Luna slipped an arm around the young girl. "Hotaru, the power of Saturn is nothing to be afraid of. You just have to have faith in yourself and let your heart guide the power."

"Hai Luna, demo…"

"I know when focused onto your glaive like that the power feels very disconcerting. However, instead of being afraid of that effect you should embrace and take advantage of it."

"Nani-ka?"

"I know you don't want to kill any of the warlord's men tonight. And if you make proper use of your powers then you won't need to either. Make use of the sense of unease that the power of Saturn creates and use it to terrifying your enemies. Many great commanders have remarked that the first step to winning a battle is to win the battle of the mind. Frighten them and you won't have to fight them.

"Hai, I guess." Hotaru replied halfheartedly not fully understanding what Luna was saying.

Giving Hotaru's shoulder another squeeze, Luna said, "I am sure that you will do fine Hotaru-chan." Then letting go of Hotaru, she reassumed her position in front of Hotaru as the two of them made their way through the brush. "Hotaru you do remember the lessons I have given you on using the Glaive to amplify your powers, right?"

"Hai I do."

"Good then tonight I want you to focus on magnifying the unease feeling that your powers can generate and to always keep a trickle of power running into your glaive." Luna said as a plan began to firm up in her mind.

"Hai." Hotaru replied, still not assured how this would benefit her, but willing to rely on Luna's judgement.

As the two of them continued their hike, Luna's thoughts again returned to that of Hotaru's training as she analyzed the various elements that she might make use of. With this being a psychological attack as opposed to a physical one, making sure that Hotaru came across as fully confident was of the utmost importance. She had decided early on that Hotaru would use her glaive in the attack and a good fraction of the training time had as a consequence been spent teaching Hotaru to become comfortable wielding the deadly weapon. She had of course started Hotaru with the wooden staves initially so that Hotaru could learn without running the risk of cutting open a major artery. But following Hotaru's mastery of the Silence Wall, she had begun having Hotaru use the Glaive in their training sessions.

Even though she had been expecting it to some degree, Luna had been surprised by how fast Hotaru had picked up mastery of the weapon. Within but a few days of transitioning from the wooden practice staves to the glaive, Hotaru was showing herself to be far more fluid and natural in handling the large pole arm. And even more surprising, Luna found that as Hotaru became more practiced in using the glaive that the glaive appeared to become sharper, where initially the blade refused to cut through Luna's staff after a week, the blade was easily cutting through the wood with no effort.

Luna had been expecting Hotaru's transition to the glaive to be easier than one might expect as she had recognized early on that the glaive appeared to be a magical amplifier. That had in of itself had been another reason for the evening lectures that she had given Hotaru. In teaching Hotaru some of the basics of magic, she had hoped that she would be able to help Hotaru use the power of the glaive to enhance her abilities. And unlike trying to remember the general principles around combat magic, the use of magic amplifiers was one area where she now had very good memories. Of course like most of her memories those particular memories did not bother to return till after they would have been of any use in helping Usagi. But then again Pluto had said that Usagi was better off not remembering any of her previous life's lessons in the use of the Ginzuishou.

However, she at least had recovered them in time for helping with Hotaru, the memories being those of young Serenity's own training with that powerful artifact of the Silver Millennium. With her role as Serenity's future diplomatic advisor, she had the additional responsibility of being present at every one of Serenity's training sessions with the queen regarding the use of the crystal. There had been two reasons for her presence at those training sessions, both of which boiled down to her needing be just as familiar with the workings of the crystal as Serenity. Of course she was never to actually touch the crystal or to even think of using the crystal; the consequences of how the power of the crystal would corrupt her soul had been made very clear to her. Instead, her presence at the training was so first that she could guide the princess through her exercises when the queen's schedule kept her from attending herself. The second reason was in case the unthinkable happened and the princess died before she could pass the knowledge onto her own daughter. And of course when such an incident did occur, though, in this case with the princess needing to relearn how to use the crystal, Luna's mind had been turned into Swiss cheese by the stasis capsule.

Pausing for a moment, Luna turned back to Hotaru, "How are you holding up?"

"Ok, thirsty though."

"Same here. Turn around and I will remove the water bottle from your pack." Luna said.

Doing as instructed, Hotaru turned to her left, thereby allowing Luna access to right side of her pack and the readily accessibly water bottle. Slipping the water bottle out of its holder, Luna opened the top and handed it over to Hotaru to drink. While Hotaru was drinking, Luna made a slight face as she realized that the bottle was almost empty. _ Well I knew that those flavored drink packs wouldn't last forever. But I am not really looking forward to the taste of straight iodine flavored water again. _ Luna thought with a shiver over that particular taste. _ Though I still have no idea of how Hotaru can describe the taste as that of lemonade, especially given that she even admits that it tastes nothing like it. _

Seeing that Hotaru was finished, with her drink Luna accepted the bottle back. Then after taking a few more sips of her own, she slipped it back into Hotaru's pack. "Ready to continue on our way?" she asked once she had finished.

And with Hotaru's response of "Hai" the two of them continued along their way. This time as they walked, Luna's thoughts turned to that of how Hotaru had mastered that second power of Saturn.

* * *

Leaving their hut after having been given the evening off; Hotaru wandered out into the village. So far her days had all been spent with pretty much non-stop training and magic theory and so with suddenly getting free time she had no idea of what to do with it. She felt a little frustrated that Luna wouldn't let her try to heal the sore throat that was plaguing her mentor, but Luna had said it wasn't worth wasting her energy on trivial matters like that.

Deciding to look up at the starry sky, Hotaru marveled at how much brighter and clearer the night sky looked out here away from Tokyo. Back home she had rarely looked up at the night sky since the nighttime glow of the city light blotted most of it out. But out here it looked really marvelous. As lost as she was in examining the night sky, the first indication that she had when she arrived at the river's edge was when she stepped into the cold water.

"Cold!" she yelped out as she suddenly took in where she was. Feeling a bit foolish with herself, she stepped back onto dry land and walked a little bit downstream to a better overlook position. Sitting down, she listened to the calm waters of the river flow for a few moments before she got a desire to try one of the exercises that Luna had taught her. Summoning her glaive, she laid it down on her lap and began to concentrate in flowing her energy into its shaft and from their up into the blade itself. Running through the exercises a few times she felt her body relax and the energy flow more easily.

Twenty minutes later when she opened her eyes, which had closed at some point during the exercises, she was startled to find the glaive's blade glowing with a purplish tint. _ Huh? _ was her only thought before her break in mental concentration caused the light to extinguish. Wanting to replicate what she had just done, she once again let herself fall back into that trance and was able to feel the energy that was coursing through her body flow from her finger and toe tips into her center and from their back out into her right hand and into the glaive and then to her pleasure the glaive once again began to glow.

"Sugoi!" Hotaru exclaimed after the glow returned the second time. Standing up, the young girl tried generating the glow some more times, each time her mood perking up another notch.

Once Hotaru had satisfied herself that she could create the purple glow on command, she began to think of what to do next. In so doing, her thoughts turned to what ChibiUsa would want her to do and so with a smile on her face she waded out into the river. Not noticing the cold water this time, she quickly found herself a nice large rock and then with a quick swish she swung her glaive cleaving the rock into two, having met no more resistance than if she was slicing the glaive through a sheet of rice paper. Shifting the glaive so that she held it only in her left hand, she dropped it to her side and laid her right hand down on the surface of the rock _ It's feels like glass. _ Hotaru thought to herself as she felt the smoothness of the surface. Taking a few steps back she noted happily that the rock was now even reflecting the light of the moon.

Deciding to try again, Hotaru sliced another rock that was poking above the surface of the river into two. _ Luna's going to be so surprised when I tell her this. _ Hotaru thought to herself as a large grin covered her face. Turning to leave the river and to tell Luna about her discovery, she paused for a moment and thought _ I wonder if I can channel even more energy into the blade. _ High on the euphoria of happiness that her discovery had brought, Hotaru concentrated on drawing even more energy into the glaive. Opening her eyes, she looked at the glaive and noticed that instead of just faintly glowing it was now shining very brightly. Grinning with anticipation she walked up to the largest boulder in the stream and swung at it with her glaive. As expected the glaive cut right through with no resistance. But instead of splitting into two as had happened with the previous boulders this one dissolved into dust that then vanished on the night wind. _ Nani-ka? _ Hotaru thought to herself as panic began to overtake her body causing it to shutdown. Teetering on her feet, the glaive slipped through Hotaru's fingers moments before the rest of her body toppled into the river.

* * *

While Luna had not felt up to teaching Hotaru that evening, she was not feeling so ill that she needed to confined to bed, as all she had was just a nasty little sore throat. And so taking advantage of having an evening free, she decided to take advantage of it by returning to her natural feline state. Between the hiking and not wanting to scare the villagers, she had not spent much time as a cat since leaving Tokyo. Leaving the village, she made her way out into the corn fields and then with a quick check for anyone else who might have been out she became a small house cat. _ Ah, it has been too long. _ Luna thought with a happy sigh as she began to stretch out her muscles.

_ What's that? _ Luna thought to herself a few minutes later as motion at the edge of her vision caught her attention. Turning her head, she smiled as she realized that it was a field mouse. _ That I think will do perfectly. _ Luna thought as she began to hunt the mouse, not that she was looking to actually catch it, just to have some fun with it.

Luna's impromptu hunt with the field mouse eventually ended up encompassing various mice and other small nocturnal animals that she found in the fields. Sometime later as Luna was stalking her next target she thought, _ Too bad Artemis is not here. _ While hunting was always fun, it was also much more fun to hunt with another feline. And while she still had trouble picturing herself in a relationship with that lazy fur ball, she was not beyond admitting to herself his company now would have been appreciated. _ There now's the time. _ Luna suddenly thought to herself when her prey made its fatal mistake, rewarding her patience. Uncoiling from her crouch she was on the rodent before it was even able to register her presence. Internally grinning at her success, she gently put the scared rodent back down on the ground and opened her mouth to release it. The animal did not need any prompting and instantly vanished into the nearest hole that it could find.

Ticking off another mental catch, Luna began to look for her next target. Back on her home world, this catch and release hunt was a very popular game. Normally one played with a container into which the captured prey was placed for official tallying. While the principles of the game were quite basic for her people, the game did require a lot of skill – skill that came from not killing the prey. To successfully catch the rodent, one had to make sure to nab only the skin at the base of the neck, as opposed to just sinking one's teeth in. When played properly, severe penalties were handed out for any kills and minor penalties for any injuries that the prey sustained.

Finding her next target, Luna was just about to begin the hunt when she saw some movement down by the river. Curious, she decided to put her game on hold and made her way down. _ Is that Hotaru? What is she doing down by the river? _ Luna thought as began to be able to make out the figure of a young girl by the river. Stealthily approaching her charge, she saw Hotaru wade out into the middle of the river. _ What is she doing? Is she trying to catch a cold? _ Luna did not have to wait long with regard to her question of what Hotaru was doing for before long, Hotaru sliced a bolder in half. _ Hmm… While it's not a ranged attack, there is potential there. Wonder how effective that will be against demon hide? _ Luna thought to herself as she analyzed Hotaru's attack.

Lost as she was in her analysis mode, Luna almost did not see what happened a little later when Hotaru's attack turned a large boulder into dust. _ Well if the initial ones are no good against the demons that last one has to be worth something. _ Luna thought to herself as she realized that Hotaru now appeared to have the ability to kill off a demon by herself. Those thoughts, though, were derailed when Luna heard the Silence Glaive splash into the river. Her eyes immediately tracking the source of the noise, Luna's stomach fell away as she saw Hotaru topple down into the river. Crying out "Hotaru!" she quickly shifted back into her human form. _ How could I have been so stupid? I should have remembered that Hotaru still is not comfortable with her powers. Damn! She is probably having flashbacks to when she was possessed by that demon. _ Luna mentally chided herself while running the rest of the way to Hotaru.

Grabbing a hold of the Hotaru's limp form, Luna pulled Hotaru up into her arms. Once Hotaru was in her arms, she wrapped an arm tightly around Hotaru's chest so as to prevent the Hotaru from slipping back into the water. Then with Hotaru secured, Luna slowly began to make her way back to the shore, fighting with each step to remain upright in the face of the current and the dead weight of Sailor Saturn. When Luna finally made it to the river bank some time later it was with a substantial amount of relief.

Lifting Hotaru up out of the water and onto the bank, Luna quickly checked for breathing. Though, just as she finished doing that Hotaru opened her eyes, but to Luna's dismay they were not the eyes of an energetic child. Instead, the eyes were vacant. Knowing that she had to do something to help ease the child's pain, Luna changed back into her feline form and crawled up onto Hotaru's chest.

Grabbing a hold of Luna and pulling the purring feline in close to her breast, Hotaru sobbed for a few moments, before finally speaking words between her sobs. "That, that power it was what I used against momma. I could feel the blackness calling to me."

"Hotaru it is okay. Usagi doesn't blame you." Luna said

"Why not? She should, I was the one who attacked her. The power of Saturn was what almost killed everyone. Why does she want me?" Hotaru replied before breaking down into more tears.

"Hotaru it was that demon that that creature had placed inside of you that made you do those things. Usagi doesn't blame you because she knows that you did not want to do any of those things. And she wants you because she cares for you and loves you just like she loves ChibiUsa."

Mentally grasping onto those words as a lifeline in the same manner that she was holding onto Luna, Hotaru's tears began to slow to a trickle. Noticing the change in Hotaru's mood, Luna just continued to purr, knowing that the sense of love was far more important for Hotaru now than any words. Before long the warmth of a purring cat lulled Hotaru into sleep and Luna followed her charge shortly thereafter.

* * *

Taking a moment to adjust her pack, Luna remembered the fun she had in waking up in the wee hours of the morning and attempting to awake Hotaru long enough to get her to return to their hut. If Hotaru had not taken a swim in the chilly water, she probably would have not bothered, but as it was she wanted to try to avoid Hotaru getting sick. Unfortunately given how long it was before Hotaru made it back to the hut and dried herself off, Hotaru did end up coming down with a pretty nasty cold the next day, but thankfully the cold was short lived.

Hotaru's progress in developing her powers stalled after that day. While in some respects Hotaru had done much better than the others, as after it had taken them a fair bit of time before any of them were able to unlock a second spell that they could use, Luna still felt that Hotaru could have gone farther. She knew from the legends of the Forbidden Soldier that they had only scratched the surface of Sailor Saturn's powers. However, after the incident with the second power, Hotaru appeared to have clamped down on her powers and Luna knew that no further progress would be made until Hotaru was once again comfortable using her powers. _ I just hope that tonight will help and not hinder Hotaru. _ Luna thought to herself. Then looking up at the moon rising in the afternoon sky, she said spoke: "Usagi-chan if you can hear me watch over your daughter tonight." quietly so as not to be heard Hotaru who was a few paces behind her.

* * *

Pulling up in front of the Tsukino household, Mamoru parked his car. Getting out, he walked up the front path to the door. Knocking he waited a few minutes with no answer. Taking out the key that he had been given by Kenji, he unlocked the door and stepped inside. Closing the door, he removed his shoes and then made his way up to Usagi's room. Quietly opening the door as if to avoid awakening his girlfriend; he slipped inside the room. Walking over to her bedside, he removed a red rose from his jacket and placed it in the vase on her bedside table. Looking around he could see vases containing roses from the previous weeks placed around the room. Each vase contained exactly seven roses, one for each day he came and he had yet to miss a day. He always placed his roses into the vase that was located on the bedside table and at the end of the week Ikuko would move the filled vase elsewhere in the room and replace it with a fresh vase. So far none of the roses had begun to wilt, not even the one from the day after the incident. Each rose continued to bloom in its full glory; though, the older ones now had a developed gold-silver tint.

Mamoru had no idea why the older roses had begun to change color; though, he was much more curious as to why none of them had begun to wilt. There wasn't anything really special about them, but then again he knew how powerful Usagi's love was and he wondered if maybe his love for her could work some minor miracles, as there had to be something he could give back to her.

With the rose placed, Mamoru knelt down on the floor mat that both he and ChibiUsa used in visiting Usagi. Unlike ChibiUsa he spoke but four words to Usagi when he visited. Instead of a large amount of words he just tried to envision being able to hug her and hoped that she might be able to feel his love. After kneeling there for ten minutes, he stood back up. Walking up to the crystal coffin he placed his right hand on it and said, "I love you Usako" before turning and walking out.

Leaving the house, he got back in his car. Driving away he felt his spirit once again rejuvenated. While he never knew when he was going to find the time to stop by to see his love, he always found himself feeling better for it. When he had returned home that first night he had promised himself that he would visit her every day just as she had visited him in his dreams every night till he had learned the truth of her identity. He knew how much of her heart she wore on her sleeves and also knew that she would need the reassurance that she had not been forgotten. It was probably the third day of his visits when Kenji had given him a key to the house so that he could visit her no matter what his schedule was like and there were some days in which he had barely made it before midnight and others when he had visited her in the wee hours of the morning. But there was never a day that he had failed to visit.

A week after the incident, he had been talking with Ikuko after leaving Usagi's room and had realized that recovering from her coma was only going to be the first in a long line of hardships for Usagi. She was most likely going to be at least one if not many years behind her friends by the time that she awoke and that was assuming that there weren't any lasting effects that would prevent her from attending school That night when he had returned home to his apartment he had made another vow to himself. For the past week he had been slipping behind in his studies, having been wrapped up in his grief. However, he then realized that that was no longer acceptable. More than ever he needed to make sure he passed his courses with top marks so that he could find a good job, one that would support him, Usagi, and their two daughters.

Hotaru's running away had almost shocked him out of his vow. But a visit from a grief stricken ChibiUsa, who was falling in her mother's footsteps of caring first about others, changed that. He could still remember her words that night she had knocked on his door:

He had been attempting to work on an organic chemistry problem set when the knock came. Eagerly accepting the break provided, he had gotten up from his desk and opened the door. He had been expecting to see one of his neighbors or maybe a solicitor who had managed to get inside the building, but instead found ChibiUsa standing outside. The little girl had her hair down and was dressed in one of what was probably one of Usagi's old shirts and was holding a well worn stuffed animal that he suspected also belonged to Usagi. "ChibiUsa-chan what are you doing here?" he had asked.

Instead of answering his question she instead said, 'Papa don't worry. Hotaru will be okay. Be a doctor so that we can live as a family when mamma wakes up." before turning and leaving.

Mamoru had stood there frozen for a few moments before his mind began connecting all of the dots and he realized that ChibiUsa was out all by herself. Dashing back into his apartment he grabbed his keys and wallet. Then locking the door, he had quickly caught up with his daughter and pulled her up into a hug.

"Hai, you're right. She has Luna with her and she is a Sailor Senshi. I might not be as good as the girls, but I will do my part. You do understand that with the additional courses that I will be taking next semester that I won't be able to see you as much." he had told ChibiUsa as he carried her out to his car so that he could drive her home.

"Hai that's okay." ChibiUsa had replied before yawning and then drifting off to sleep.

That was the last night in which he had any lingering doubts about his course of action and whether or not he was neglecting ChibiUsa and Usagi. Now whenever those doubts would momentarily raise themselves he would just remember how cute ChibiUsa had looked standing there on his doorstep and know that he was doing this for her, Hotaru and Usagi. He knew not what the future would bring, but he would do his best to be prepared.

* * *

Walking into the lobby of the research facility, Ami removed her ID badge from her dimensional pocket. Affixing its retractable cord to the front for her school fuku, she gave a wave and smile to the guard. As she then proceeded forward to the first door she also retrieved her computer. With the computer still closed and in her left hand, she used her right hand to pull her badge down so that she could pass it in front of the badge reader. Seeing the light turn green, she pulled open the glass door and stepped into the archway. During her tour, the guide had spent a fair bit of time describing the basis behind this piece of magical technology that had been provided by Britain. Supposedly aside from the powerful glamour magics of the Sailor fuku, the archway was capable of instantly canceling any glamour magic, potion, or artifact. Even self-transfigurations were supposed to be canceled out by the device.

When she had pointed out that Galaxia's troops being tainted Sailor Senshi would be unaffected by the archway, General Zala had informed her that it was not the demons that they were worried about, but the nations that the Moon princess had decline to invite into this little consortium. Ami did not need any more prompting beyond that to realize how important this archway was. The Silver Millennium technology that was to be shared would be disastrous if it fell into the hands of a hostile nation, which was exactly the reason why ChibiUsa had chosen the nations she had. Ami just hoped that by the time that word of this little endeavor leaked to the press that either Usagi was back or that it was far into the future. As of now and likely for the next few years there was no way that ChibiUsa would be able to handle the public outcry that would result if the list of nations that were allowed in was made public. She understood ChibiUsa's reasons for her selections but that did not mean that the public and the uninvited nations would be satisfied with the requirement of only nations that were willing to take a stand for liberty and that further more did not do something stupid in the future.

While the archway performed its magic instantaneously other technological sensors that were integrated into this gate area took a little longer. But fifteen seconds after stepping into the archway, the light on the exit door turned green and Ami heard the distinct sound of the latch clicking open. Pulling the door open, she walked out into the interior of the facility. As she did so, her right hand was already flying over her keyboard as she proceeded to check her email and to review her afternoon's schedule. Her first appointment was in fifteen minutes when she was to meet with Colonel Carter to discuss the issues that Carter's team had been having with integrating the Senshi communication technology into the modern military equipment. Mentally reviewing the last update she had read on that project, she remembered that Carter's team had been able to develop a prototype system that was capable of using the Sailor Senshi communication bands, but that as of right now the equipment took up most of the space in one of the labs. _ I Will have to see if they have been having any luck replicating any of the nanoscale fabrication techniques. _ Ami thought to herself before reviewing the rest of her schedule.

After her meeting with Carter, she had a prototype review of the pulse rifle. This was one item that she was quite interested in; as if successful, these weapons had the potential of giving the self defense force the firepower necessary to be truly useful allies against Galaxia. After that review, she was to work on her own rifle proficiency and then to finish off the day, she had a private cram school session with an on-site tutor. It was going to be a busy day, and even when she left here it wouldn't be all over as she still had her homework to do once she got home. But Ami did not mind and with a smile she closed her computer as she walked into her office. Dropping of her school bag, she walked over to the coat rack and removed her lab coat.

Slipping on her lab coat, she glanced down to the floor and noticed that as usual that Youko's water and food dish were full and ready for him should he decide to materialize. While generally Youko only showed up when Ami was troubled, here at the base he of late had begun to start lounging around her in the physical plane instead of sleeping in her soul. Ami figured Youko was enjoying the attention that he got from some of the other staff and particularly the canine handlers. While she had no idea who had started setting aside food and water dishes for Youko in her office, she had a hunch that it was one of the canine handlers, given that at least once during the course of the day that they would find some reason to stop by her office to say hi to Youko.

Of course, Youko's first appearance on the base had caused a bit of a stir. She had been in the middle of an argument with a Canadian scientist by the name of Dr. McKay that was employed by the American Air Force and who was referring to take her seriously when Youko appeared and began to growl at Dr. McKay. A bit of pandemonium had erupted until she had been able explained that Youko belonged to her. Thankfully she never had to explain how Youko could just appear and disappear with no trace, as the guards just assumed that to be par for the course for a Sailor Senshi pet. Ami smiled as she remembered that little crisis; thankfully, no alarms were triggered before she was able to explain that Youko was her pet. Whereas Dr. McKay had been utterly terrified, Captain Carter who while she had her hand on the phone had waited for her to patiently explain herself before taking any action, seemingly to have expected there to be a perfectly good explanation.

Returning to her desk, Ami hoped that Youko would put in an appearance today. She knew that that the Sailor Senshi part of her soul would be upset at her, but she was finding herself very much enjoying the company of the demon. She knew she keep her feelings more guarded, but with all that had happened she needed the 24-7 unconditional love that Youko seemed to provide her. And anyways, Ami's mind rationalized, while she might be sacrificing her soul, at least her sacrifice allowed her to keep a clear mind and that was what they needed survive the pending threat. Putting those thoughts out of her mind, Ami picked up a pen and a notepad. She still had some time before her first meeting and she figured that she might as well get started on her homework. Humming lightly to herself as she worked, Ami knew that she had it easy right now since the new school year had only just started and as such the work load was still light. Before long she would need to begin to prepare for her high school entrance exams, something that under normal circumstances would be expected to fully occupy her afternoon and evenings. However, with her duties here to the facility and ultimately to Usagi, she would not be able to devote more than a few hours each day. She did not know what she would do when that time came, but figured that she would figure something out. Though, on the plus side, the private tutor who had been assigned to her was much more time effective than her old cram school, which did help. _ Usagi comes first, no matter what. Maybe I won't get into the best high school, but would I really be willing to leave my friends behind anyways? Plus who knows how long I would be able to go before this lie would have collapsed anyways. _ Ami thought to herself as she picked up one of her text books and opened it to the problems she needed to solve.

* * *

With the sun starting to set, Luna and Hotaru crested a rise that gave them a good view of their destination. Pausing in their hiking, the two of them looked out over the opulent compound that was the center of the terror faced by the villagers. Turning around, Luna headed back away from the compound. Slightly confused as to why Luna was now heading away, Hotaru followed the other girl but did not say anything.

After walking a little distance, Luna angled towards a nice full bush that lay beside a large tree. Then lowering her pack to the ground she said, "We should leave our packs back here. This tree here should be easily to find when we return for them. Remember it is going to be dark so we won't have many usable landmarks."

"Hai that makes sense." Hotaru said as she now understood what Luna was doing.

"We also should eat now. This will also allow the sun to fully set. By acting at night, the impact of your attack will be magnified." Luna said as she opened the top of her pack and removed supplies for dinner. Due to the need to avoid giving any indication of their presence from cooking flames, dinner that night consisted of cold rehydrated food. Not the most appetizing meal; but Hotaru did not pay the taste much heed with her nerves occupying most of her attention.

Later as they were washing their bowls, Luna said "Don't worry Hotaru you will do fine and I will be there beside you the entire time"

"Nani-ka? But you might get hurt." Hotaru said, not having expected that Luna would be accompanying her.

Smiling, Luna replied, "You forget Hotaru that I still have my cat form."

"Gomen, I had forgotten about that." Hotaru replied with a blush.

"I thought you might have. After all you have now known me longer in this form than as a talking cat."

"Demo, how is that going to help?"

"Very simply, no one is going to pay a random cat any heed, especially with the attention that you are going to attract. This will allow me to scout for you; plus I will be able to help you in other ways as they come up. And while you might not know it, I have had quite a bit of experience fighting with Sailor Moon." Luna said; though, not elaborating that her help primarily consisted of hiding some place semi-safe and calling out strategy to the novice warrior.

"Oh?" Hotaru asked.

"Hai before Sailor Mercury joined the team there was only the two of us. And with how new her powers were to her, the only way that she survived past her first battle was because of my help." Luna said. Then with a slightly depressed tone, she continued with, "If only I had known she was not a trained as a Sailor Senshi. I can't believe how close I came to failing her that very first night."

"It's okay Luna." Hotaru said as she reached out and pulled the older girl into a hug. "Momma doesn't blame you and I wouldn't be here if you hadn't done that."

Looking down into Hotaru's eyes, Luna replied. "Hai you're right." As she wrapped her arms around Hotaru to give the younger girl a return hug while thinking, _ And I thought I was the one who was supposed to be cheering Hotaru up for her battle. _

Then as they released each other from the hug, Luna took a few steps back and returned to her natural feline form. Looking up at Hotaru, she said, "While we will want to wait till later tonight before commencing the attack, now would be a good time to get into position and perform some initial recon."

"Hai" Hotaru agreed before calling out in a strong firm voice "Saturn Planet Power Make-Up!"

For the first time since Saturn had awaken in the new world, her mortal half called upon the powers of the Star of Destruction with a voice firm and with the desire to fully accept the power of Saturn and the star responded by exploding its energies out from the transformation wand that had formed in Hotaru's hand. As those energies burst forth, a wind created by the backlash of energy buffeted the plants backward. Watching on in awe, Luna felt a chill in her bones as she felt the winds blow across her body causing her to think, _ Is this… Is this the reason why Saturn was placed in sleep, only to awake when she was needed. _ as she subconsciously shivered and took a few steps backward. In some ways Luna was right in her thought of why Saturn was put to sleep; however, the chill she felt was a far cry from the chill that Saturn before her rebirth gave off. Now with a pure soul, one that could fully handle the mantle of Saturn, the chill of pending death that the release of Saturn's power brought was reduced to a refreshing breeze from its previous arctic gale.

Lost in the feel of rebirth that came with the flash release of the powers of her star, Hotaru was oblivious to what was happening around her in the split second that it took her fuku to form. Even though she had transformed from a ready state, the move to a full transformation still brought on the same feeling of rebirth as a transformation from her unpowered state would have, as in both cases the bands of energy still had to race along her skin to form the fuku and to establish the corresponding active combat magic fields.

With her transformation complete and Silence Glaive in hand, Hotaru took a moment to kneel down on one knee. Holding her glaive close to the ground, she closed her eyes as she tilted her down and softly spoke, "Momma, I no longer fear my power. Thank you. Please watch over me. I'm going to do as you do. As you saved me, I am going to save those children." Then letting her prayer lapse into a moment of silence, Hotaru remained still before finally adding with a quavering voice and a few tears as she looked up into the heavens, "And please come back soon, I miss you."

Watching Hotaru kneel down and speak her prayer, Luna first thought that Hotaru was speaking to her dead mother. Luna knew how close Hotaru had been to her father, many of Hotaru's nightmares the first weeks after the incident had been over her father's death, and had figured that Hotaru must have been close to her mother as well. But then when Hotaru added the last part, Luna suddenly realized that Hotaru was not speaking to her birth mother, but to Usagi. _ Nani-ka! When did she start to call Usagi mother? I know Usagi is now her mother, but she has always felt that she did not deserve to be Usagi's daughter. _ Luna thought to herself having failed to make the connection the previous times that Hotaru had called Usagi momma.

Finished with her prayer, Saturn quickly stood back up and strode over to where Luna stood lost in her own thoughts. Picking up her feline companion, Saturn placed Luna down on her shoulder. Lost as Luna was in Hotaru's calling of Usagi mother, she had been quite surprised when she was suddenly lofted up into the air and barely had time to get a firm hold on Saturn's fuku with her claws before Saturn was off.

* * *

"Ready?" Luna whispered into Saturn's ear.

Nodding her response, Saturn shifted her position in the tree branch so that the glaive was brought into a ready position. Looking out at the outer security wall of the compound she quickly reviewed the little bit that the two of them had learned during their earlier recognizance. While she didn't look forward to using that second power she had learned and had yet to name, she did understand Luna's reasoning. Taking a few more deep breaths to steady her nerves, she began to pool her energy into the glaive.

As the blade of the Silence Glaive began to glow, a black light seemed to glow just as strongly with the purple light this time, giving the weapon an even more fearsome look. Not taking the time to wonder at what that meant, Hotaru leapt out of the tree and dashed across the open field to the wall. Arriving unseen, she leapt partway up the wall and lashed out at the wall with her glaive. Then acting on instinct, she pulled her body into a tuck as the glaive exited the wall and allowed her body to be flipped over backwards as the wall exploded out in a shower of concrete and steal.

Somersaulting a couple of times in the air, Hotaru landed back on the ground for but a moment before she launched her self back at the wall and through the hole she had just created. Once inside, she sighted a nearby shed that lay beside the security wall. Heading over to the shed, she used it as a spring board to gain access to the top of the wall, slicing away the barb wire before landing.

"You're doing good Saturn, do you remember what to do next?" Luna asked softly from where she was still situated on Saturn's shoulder. She had thankfully gotten a tight grip of the fabric of the fuku so as to avoid falling off with Hotaru's gymnastics; though, she planned to have a little talk with her charge after this was all over about what not to do when she had a passenger.

"Hai." Saturn replied before grabbing a hold of the barb wire in front of her with her gloved hand. Giving a firm tug, she pulled a long strand of the wire loose and tossed it down to the ground. Then after releasing the end that she was holding, she began running along the top of the security wall dragging behind her the glowing glaive, which she had embedded into the concrete. Once she reached the far end of the path that she had cleared of the barb wire, she jumped back down to the ground.

As Saturn landed on the ground and the upper half of the wall shattered, raining concrete down on the ground, Luna said "Hotaru, I think I see an area where I can create a distraction; you keep poking holes in the walls."

"Hai." replied Saturn as she knelt down so that Luna could easily jump off her shoulder.

After watching the black cat run off into the night for the few moments that her eyes were able to track Luna's form, Hotaru turned back to regard another section of the wall and took off running. With her footsteps falling silently on the ground and by following the shadows, she easily avoided being spotted by the guards who were swarming over to what was left of the East wall. Thankfully no one had truly expected to be attacked here and as such there were only minimal perimeter lights, thereby providing the shadows that Hotaru needed to hide herself in.

Reaching another section of the wall, Hotaru this time decided to see what would happen if she ran her glaive along the base of the wall. Though, first she started by jumping up to the top of the wall to start her cut. Hotaru had just about reached the mid point of her cut when a sudden explosion startled her. Jumping with fright she yanked her glaive out of the wall as she turned towards the source the noise. _ What the… ? _ she thought as she saw a large blazing inferno lighting up the night sky. _ Is that Luna's doing? _ she thought as she remembered that Luna was apparently going to go create a distraction.

Leaving the wall she had been in the process of demolishing behind her, Saturn began walking slowly towards the raging fire, awed by it size. All around the compound shouts of confusion echoed as the guards attempted to find out what was happening while at the same time contain the fire. A second explosion echoing out from the fire, accompanied with a smaller fireball as something else caught fire just served to increase the confusion.

Hotaru stood there transfixed watching the fire burn until a streak of motion caught her attention. Seeing that it was Luna, she asked, "Luna what did you do?"

"When you were up on the wall, I saw their motor vehicle depot and decided to set their fuel supplies on fire."

"Oh" Hotaru replied before giving the out of control fire one last glance and then turning to face the mansion itself.

* * *

Seto had been in the middle of his evening meal when Hotaru began her assault on the compound. His first sign that something was wrong was when a detail of body guards suddenly entered his private dining room.

"Sorry for the intrusion Mr. Seto, but there appears to be some disturbance by the east wall. The initial reports are that someone has fired an RPG into it."

Setting down his knife and fork, Seto coldly regarded the man who had given the report. He did not need to give any instructions as he knew that the rest of his men would deal with whoever was challenging his authority. Thinking about who might be behind this attack he quickly dismissed the local governor being involved. While he had no illusions to the loyalty of that fool, he knew that that man would never do something to betray him as after all Seto was the only reason why he was in power and that fool knew it as well. That then left the villages that he ruled over. _ One of them must have gotten their hands on some weapons. _ Seto finally decided as he resumed eating his steak. _ That makes two villages showing defiance only a month apart. I am going to have to make an example of this one – one that will make the others think twice. _

With that decided, Seto once again engrossed himself in eating, secure as he was in his belief that his security forces would quickly deal with the trouble makers and that the only thing he would need to concern himself with would be meting out retribution. The violent shaking of the entire building some minutes later quickly dispelled any thoughts that this was just some minor show of resistance.

"Mr. Seto come we should get you upstairs to one of the safe room." one of the guards said as he moved towards Seto.

"Yes you are right." Seto said with some uncertainty now in his voice.

With Seto's agreement, the bodyguards quickly made their way up to the third and top floor of the building. Leaving the stairwell, they were in the process of making their way towards one of the interior room when they suddenly found themselves facing a solo warrior who appeared to be carrying some kind of pole arm and standing at the far end of the hall. With the fire providing backlight lighting from the window that Saturn stood in front of and also glinting off her glaive, she looked more like some vengeful demon than a preteen. Even Luna who was situated on top of Saturn's shoulder bathed as she was in shadows and with her eyes glowing from reflected light added to that illusion.

Seeing the group of men come to a stop, Saturn regarded them for a few moments before slowly stepping forward with measured steps as she mentally reminded herself to show no fear. With each step, she radiated confidence and mastery of the situation and paid no heed when Seto's nervous men brought their weapons up to bear. Coming to a stop a few paces from Seto, Saturn placed the butt of her weapon down on the ground and waited while also mentally reviewing Luna's instructions on how to act intimidating – to speak in only short curt sentences, and to show no fear.

Now able to see this mysterious warrior in better light, Seto was surprised to see that she was not much more than a child. With confidence once again returning, he demanded of her, "Who are you and what do you want?"

Using all of her effort not to flinch, Hotaru waited a moment before speaking. Standing here in front of the monsters who had ordered those children burned, she could feel the anger and fury returning as the power of Saturn stirred. During that moment of silence, part of her mind even noted that the power of Saturn actually seemed amused by how this monster thought he had the upper hand. When Hotaru finally did speak it was not with the words she had planned to use, but instead with words fed to her power the other half of her soul. "I am the Star of Death, the Star of Retribution, I am Sailor Saturn. I have been summoned by the cries of the oppressed and I come to return the oppressors to dust." Saturn said and as she said that last line, she swung out her glaive so that the tip pointed at Seto's chest.

_ One of the villages as I thought. They must be desperate if they are sending up children to face off against my men. _ Seto thought to himself before saying, "Kill her."

Hearing their boss's command, the men opened fire on Sailor Saturn. However, Saturn was even faster and with a cry of "Silence Wall" she had erected her protective barrier. Seto could only watch on in horror as a purplish translucent wall suddenly appeared and disintegrated every single bullet fired.

"Don't stop firing! She can't keep that up forever." Seto commanded as he realized that his men had stopped firing; though, the last part was said in hope. And once his men resumed firing, he turned and began to run in the other direction that of course being the real reason he had ordered them to keep firing as after all while they might not be able to kill her right now, they at least could keep her pinned down.

Now having called upon more of her power as Saturn in creating the Silence Wall, Hotaru felt her power taking on more of a life of its own. When Seto cut and ran, Saturn turned her gaze to follow and let her lips curl up into a brief smile. Then before Hotaru even knew what she was doing, she had bent her knees and launched herself to her side and had crashed through the wall of the hall.

Unnoticed through this confrontation was Luna who was riding a top of the shoulder of Saturn. Saturn's sudden leap through the wall had caught her off guard and the black cat had as a result slipped off and fallen to the ground. Just as caught by surprise with Hotaru's impromptu exit through the drywall were the guards who in their surprise stopped firing and stood dumbfounded for a few moments. Those few moments were all the time that Saturn needed to recover from her painful exit and to then proceed to use her glaive to make her own doorways though the adjoining rooms.

After she had run though a couple of rooms, Saturn decided that she had traveled far enough. Using her shoulder to ram through the hall door, she returned to the hall. Not pausing for a moment, lest the guards realize that she was now behind them, Saturn proceeded to run down the hallway away from where the guards were standing. Quickly reaching the stairs just as Seto was arriving at their base; she swung herself over the banister and let herself drop down the three flights to the first floor.

"What are you?" Seto asked now with fear lacing his voice as he realized that this warrior could not be human. She did have some blood on her uniform now, which might indicate that she had been injured. However, Seto's mind associated that blood with the blood of his men and not as being her own blood.

"As I said, my guardian star is the Star of Destruction. I am the Soldier of Movement. I am Sailor Saturn and your actions have summoned me." Saturn replied. And as she did so, dark violet ribbons of energy began to flow in and out of her glaive. The ribbons paid no heed to their surrounding, cutting their way through the ground and the building with equal ease.

Seeing those ribbons of death begin to unfurl from her glaive, Seto felt true fear for the first time in his life as he realized that his life was being judged. When one of the ribbons came close by, he instinctively took a step back fearing that if one touched him that it would mean instant death.

"I am the bringer of Silence and today you are to face your judgment." And with that Saturn suddenly raised her glaive up into the air while flipping it around so that the tip was pointed down towards the ground. And then was a quick thrust she rammed the tip of the Glaive down into the ground. When the glaive hit the ground, a large sphere of energy appeared to form at its tip straining to be released. And, then Saturn whispered the words "Death Reborn Revolution," with which the ribbons of energy exploded outwards in a five mile radius, cutting through buildings, forests and hilllsides with equal ease.

* * *

Ikuko who was enjoying the peace and quiet of the early afternoon before the children arrived home from work was sitting at the kitchen table and reading the morning's paper. Between making sure that the children left for school with everything they needed and taking care of the morning household chores, she rarely got a chance to do more than glance at the front page of the paper before two in the afternoon. Flipping the page, she continued reading an article about an earthquake along the Russian-China border where no fault was believed to exist, which was leading to accusations that either Russia or China were engaged in nuclear testing, when she heard the doorbell ring.

Opening the door, she said "Konnichiwa Meji-san" in greeting to the mailman.

"Konnichiwa Tsukino-san I have a package for you today." Meji replied as he handed her the mail along with a small box.

Accepting the package from Meji, Ikuko thanked him before closing the door and walking to the kitchen. Putting the mail down on the table she went and got a pair of shears out of the drawer. She was a bit curious as to what was in the package, which bore a return address of their house. Further peaking her interest was the fact that the mail address contained Japan, suggesting that it had been mailed from outside of the country, which would also explain the large number of stamps that had been placed on it.

With the shears now in hand, she returned to the table and cut open the box. Opening up the box she removed a half dozen neatly folder sheets of paper. Putting those aside to look at a little bit later, she proceeded to remove the crumbled paper that had been used as packing and found a handful of film canisters. Now quite confused, she picked up the folded papers and unfolded them. Not recognizing the handwriting, she began to read wondering why someone had sent her film.

Ikuko had only read but a few lines of the start of the letter before her lips curled into a very content smile and she realized why someone had sent her film. Pausing in her reading, she put the letter down for the moment as she removed the film cartridges form the box and disposed of the packing material. Then picking the letter back up, she returned to the living room and began to read Luna's letter. As she read the letter, her worries over how her other granddaughter was doing vanished and were replaced instead by pride. Finishing Luna's letter far sooner then she would have liked she found that there was one more piece of paper left. Looking at that one she saw that it had been written by Hotaru herself and now a great big smile broke out on Ikuko's face.

Once she had finished with Hotaru's letter, which included a complete reread, she hugged the paper to her heart while letting her mind imagine that it was the black haired child that she was hugging instead of a piece of paper. As she hugged the letter, her mood turned a little blue for the moment as she softly said, "Hotaru-chan, I am so glad that you are doing well. But we all miss you so much and pray for your return everyday." along with the shedding of a couple of tears.

Ikuko let herself remain in that mood for some minutes before collecting herself and standing back up. Then collecting Luna's letter she walked back into the kitchen passing by a calendar with June 8th circled, a date only a week away. Placing Luna's letter with the rest of the mail so that Kenji and the others could read it she headed over to the refrigerator and after some rearranging of the various items affixed to its front, she placed Hotaru's letter front and center. Taking a final look at the letter and in particular the picture that Hotaru had drawn of the village that they were currently staying at, Ikuko smiled.

With that taken care of, she decided that tonight they would celebrate having received word form Luna and Hotaru with a special dinner. However, to do so, she would need to go to the grocers. Conveniently, there was a photo store near by the grocers and Ikuko figured that there should still be enough time to get to photos developed today. And so, she returned to the kitchen table and collected the film canisters. Then collecting her purse and placing the canisters in it, she headed on out. As she did so her thoughts were of what to fix for dinner, _ I think some tempura and tuna rolls would be good tonight. That and some green tea ice cream for desert. _

* * *

"Any more questions?" Haruna asked the class as she turned back from the board to regard the class. Seeing no one raising their hand, she continued with, "Well in that case, Minna-san I would like you to review chapter 2 again and to start looking over chapter three for tomorrow. Also please do problems 49-102 that are multiples of three but not multiples of seven in chapter two for tomorrow."

"Hai" the class replied as the bell rang and following which they collected their belongings and left the room while chitchatting amongst themselves. Watching them go, Haruna allowed herself to relax slightly as peace once again returned to the classroom. Collecting her own papers, she said a quick goodbye to the day's student helpers before leaving the classroom herself.

With her own thoughts already focusing on the evening, Haruna began to make her way towards the teacher's lounge when she caught sight of a familiar brunette. Wanting to know how her former student was doing, she called out, "Kino-san, konnichiwa."

Hearing her name, Makoto stopped, turned, and replied with "Konnichiwa Haruna-sensei." Pausing, Makoto waited for Haruna to catch up with her before continuing, "How is the new year treating you?"

"So far I don't have any students like Usagi or Ami in my class. Though I think there are a couple who have study habits that look like they will be in her league."

"Hai, Usagi wasn't much for studying; though, I guess to be fair neither was I much either."

"No you weren't; though, I think your after school job had more to do with your low marks than anything else. I think many of your past teachers would be surprised at how you have managed to settle down." Haruna said referring to the other schools in which Makoto had been expelled from.

Chuckling a little to that statement, Makoto replied, "Hai you're right. Though I think that is more Usagi's doing than anything on my part."

Placing a comforting hand on Makoto's shoulder, Haruna said, "Iie that is where you are wrong. Usagi just provided you with the reason you were looking for – something to latch onto to keep yourself from being adrift. All she did was open your eyes, the rest of it you did yourself. Speaking of which how are you holding up?" As Haruna asked the question, she gave Makoto's shoulder a light squeeze of comfort.

Looking up at her former teacher's eyes, Makoto responded, "I still have some trouble keeping myself centered. But thank you so very much for getting me straightened out. I never thought of myself much as a dancer, but Lafiel-sensei has opened a whole new world to me."

"Hai I know what you mean. Lafiel-sensei has a very unique way of looking at dancing where it matters not what others think of what you do, but that you are expressing your soul. Being able to loose myself to the music in one of her dance studios helped me those years back when I lost my brother. I am glad that my own loss was able to help you, as the other option I had thought of working out your frustrations – martial arts would have been the last thing you needed."

"Hai, you're right. I needed something very different from what I was doing when we lost Usagi to keep me from feeling like I had failed her." Makoto replied. "And thanks again, if it had not been for your intervention and you interceding on my behalf with the administration I am sure that I would have been kicked out of this school as well."

"It was no problem, and it was the least I could do in saying thanks to all of you for what you have all done and I could not in good conscience let Usagi's sacrifice cause you to be expelled. I know that is one of the last things that she would have wanted. And anyways it wasn't that hard to convince the vice-principal and your guidance counselor that you had extenuating circumstances with what happened to Usagi." Haruna explained.

Of course interceding on Makoto's behalf had not been quite so easy. While the guidance counselor was willing to look the other way if Makoto could improve her record, the vice-principal was not so easy to convince. He was sure that Makoto was just showing her true colors; after all she had been expelled from more than one school before. It had taken her threat to quit and speak to the press about the uncaring Juuban Junior-High School administration in how they dealt with the fallout from the one bystander victim from the Mugen incident to get him to acquiesce and then it was only a partial acquiescence as he only gave to the end of the week to get Makoto to clean up her act, which for a girl who was now getting into a dozen fights a day would require a miracle.

After getting the temporary reprieve, Haruna had then gone about trying to find a way to get Makoto help that would be effective. The guidance counselor had of course suggested some various options, most of which Haruna rejected out of hand. Many of them were just not relevant, since they focused with a friend grieving over the tragic loss of another friend and not a body guard grieving over her failure to protect her princess, which was quite a different situation. Haruna at first had thought that the idea of martial arts training would be a great one, as she knew quite a few former students who had turned their life around after starting in a dojo. But as fast as she thought the idea to be good, Haruna tossed it out. For a street brawler focusing on refined fighting skills would be a good way to deal with anger. But for a soldier that would just reinforce the feeling that they had failed – as after all if they had not failed then why did they need this extra training.

Haruna had racked her brains for two days trying to figure out how to help Makoto, when her thoughts turned to her own loss and how she had finally gotten over it. Five years ago she had been similarly lost in her own grief over the death of her brother, which had affected her quite deeply. Afterwards for the better part of the year she had drifted from one counselor to the next, as she looked for help but instead found herself slipping further into depression. And then just by happenstance she had literally run into a blue haired woman with very unique ears who she would come to learn was named Lafiel. Somehow in the resulting apologies that had followed, she had begun to talk to about Lafiel about her troubles. To this day, Haruna still had no idea why she started telling her troubles to that stranger, her only excuse was that for some reason it just felt natural to do so. And, then before she knew it she was following Lafiel off to her dance study for a complimentary session, which then began daily visits for the next four weeks and then a few days each week for the next couple of months.

With that remembrance, Haruna felt foolish for not thinking of her own treatment earlier; after all she was sure that Lafiel's unique way of healing the soul would work perfectly for Makoto. Now the only items left was to make sure that Lafiel was still running her dance therapy studio and to get Makoto to actually go see Lafiel. With regard to the first issue, the Cosmos was apparently looking out for Makoto, as for just as Haruna realized what she needed to do she came within a few steps of once again trampling her friend.

After exchanging greetings and collecting a roll of paper towels that had slipped out of her shopping bag when she abruptly turned to avoid walking into Lafiel, Haruna began explaining to Lafiel an abridged version of the situation with Makoto. Quickly understanding the situation and understanding that there were some things that Haruna couldn't tell her but that made Makoto's grief more so, Lafiel agreed to come by the school at the end of the next day to speak with Haruna's student.

As might be expected, Makoto did not react well to the news that Lafiel was here to help her deal with her problems. She had enough experience with incompetent counselors at her former schools to have a jaded view of the profession. However, Lafiel just let Makoto's reaction pass her by without comment. Instead she simply turned and waved Haruna out of the room. Turning back to Makoto as Haruna began to make her way out, she let her face curl into what was while a quite beautiful smile was also at the same time a very gruesome and predatory smile. Seeing that smile, Makoto had quickly ended her rant. Having left the room, Haruna did not know what was said after that only that by the time the two of them had left the room just a few minutes later that everything appeared to be worked out and that predatory smile which still gave Haruna shivers was gone.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Haruna asked Makoto, "So what are your plans for this sunny spring afternoon?"

"I am heading over to visit a couple of the others, Haruka and Michiru; I don't think you have met them before as they are older than the rest of us and used to go to Mugen. The two of them are both quite good musicians and they have been helping me with my dance. Michiru plays the violin and like everything else she does, she is excellent with it, I understand that she has even given a few performances. And, surprisingly enough Haruka is also fairly good with the piano."

"Glad to hear that you have some others to help you." Haruna said. "Take care Makoto-chan and remember to keep your outlook positive, Usagi would want nothing than the best for you."

"Hai, I know." Makoto replied before turning and starting to walk away. Though as she took her third step, she stopped and turned back to regard Haruna. _ You know I have never thought about how hard this must be for Haruna as well. I know that even Ami's mother felt the loss of Usagi and Haruna had much more contact with Usagi. Plus at least Mizuno-san had the ability to talk with us, Haruna-sensei has not. _

"Makoto-chan did you forget something?" Haruna asked when Makoto stopped.

"Iie, just thought of something." Makoto said as turned to fully face Haruna again. "I was just realizing that unlike the rest of us you haven't had anybody to talk about Usagi with. Why don't you come with me? I think you will like Michiru and Haruka."

"I don't…" Haruna started to say, planning on declining the invitation. However, Makoto's mind was made and as Haruna looked into the younger girl's eyes, she realized that there was no saying no. "Okay, just give me a few moments to get my stuff from the teacher's lounge and then we can head over."

* * *

Blinking her eyes open, Hotaru raised an arm up to block out the harsh glare of the painfully bright sun.

"Good you are finally awake" Luna said with an obviously relieved voice. "Here drink some of this water. I know it won't taste any good, but you need to rehydrate yourself."

Nodding her understanding, Hotaru accepted the bottle and gulped down half of it before noticing the awful taste of the iodine. However, that taste did not stop her thirst and she preceded to drink the rest of the water, though, at a slightly more leisurely pace. Finishing off the bottle, she wiped her mouth with her left hand and handed the bottle back to Luna.

"Luna-chan?" Hotaru asked as she looked up at Luna

"I am not sure exactly what you did as you left me behind with your little running through the wall stunt. But what I do know is that you leveled both the building and the surrounding terrain."

"I…" Hotaru replied with a shaking voice, not wanting to believe that she had let her power run out of control and fearing the worst.

"Hai you did, but don't worry. You spared the bandits, they were still alive when we left." Luna said trying to reassure Hotaru. However, she failed to mention that while the bandits may have been spared, anyone outside of the epicenter of Hotaru's attack likely was not spared, having been vaporized by the attack.

-End chapter

Author Notes:

11/4/06 Some slight edits have been made to the second half of the chapter, fixing some scene flow issues and putting in a better closing dialog from Luna to Hotaru for the end of the chapter. As always thanks to Stratagemini for correcting my errors.

As a note in my story the power of Death Reborn Revolution that be controlled by Saturn. She can shatter the planet with the spell or with lots of control restrict its power to a small area and you may have noticed that this has been hinted at in earlier chapters as this is not the first time that Death Reborn Revolution has been used - just the first time that it has been used with the Glaive.

Chapter 4 was orginally also going to include the first attack from the Dead Moon circus, but as you may have noticed the chapter has gotten quite long and I decided to break Chapter 4 into two chapters in its middle. Happily this means that Chapter 5 should be out shortly, as all I need to do is finishing editing the chapter.


	6. Chapter 5: Hints of the Future

**The Fragility of Time**  
**BOOK THREE: Star Dust Memories;**  
**Chapter 5: Hints of the Future**  
First Posted: 11/04/06  
Lasted Edited: 11/07/06 

Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story, all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only so freely and inform me of where you post it.

Looking down at the piece of paper he was holding again, Ryo confirmed that the address on the sheet did indeed match that of the building that lay in front of him. _ Well Ami did say that the facility was a covert one, but still I was expecting something more. _ Ryo thought to himself before entering into the building's small initial lobby. Walking up to the guard, he handed the soldier his ID while stating his name and reason for being there, "Urawa Ryo, I am here to meet up with Mizuno Ami."

The soldier checked over the ID, confirming that the boy's face matched the ID. Nodding in satisfaction, he began entering the information into the computer terminal. Picking up the phone he called the administrative assistant who had been assigned to the Sailor Senshi to let her know that her guest had arrived. Getting a confirmation from the admin that Mizuno was expecting a guest by the name of Urawa, he looked back up at Urawa and said, "Urawa-san, Mizuno-sama will be up shortly. You may wait for her in the lobby."

"Hai, arigato." Ryo replied before entering the arch through the now unlocked door.

However, he never got past the arch, for as he entered it, alarms began to sound and the door he had just passed through suddenly relocked itself. Wondering what was going on, he turned back to look at the soldier, hoping that the soldier would be able to explain what was going on. However, what he saw did not make him feel any better about the alarms, as the soldier in question was quickly backing away from his computer terminal with fear clearly evident on his face. Then turning back to look at the door that would allow him entry into the facility proper he saw many armed soldier begin to flow into and to take up position in the lobby.

Having received a call from her admin assistant about Ryo's arrival, Ami had quickly put away her papers before collecting her school bag. She had only just started to head to the lobby when she heard the alarm. Like everyone else in the base, her initial training had included a lesson on the different types of alarms and she instantly recognized this alarm to be that of an attempted perimeter breach at the main entrance. Once she recognized the alarm, it did not take her long to realize the probable cause. _ Oh no , I had forgotten about that! _ Ami mentally chastised herself, as she began to run as fast as she could – hoping that she would arrive before it was too late.

Given the distance between her office and the main lobby, Ami had a far bit of distance over which to sprint. And sprint she did, not slowing down in the slightest, not even for a developing stitch in her side. At some point during her sprint, Youko had joined her and was now giving helping yelps of encouragements whenever the stitch started to get too bad. Rounding the last corner, she saw the exit to the lobby and dropped her head down in an attempt to gain a little extra speed for the final meters.

Exiting into the lobby, Ami quickly passed by the soldiers closest to the hallway entrance before a more alert one managed to grab a hold of her. "Ma'am it is not safe. That boy is being possessed by a demon." The soldier who had grabbed Ami said.

"Iie, it is not what you think." Ami tried to explain; however it was like talking to a brick, wall as the soldier failed to listen to Ami's explanation of why Ryo was not a demon that they needed to worry about.

From his position beside Ami, Youko could easily see the frustration building in the child as she tried to reason with the soldier. He had known from the moment that the soldier had grabbed Ami that there would be no reasoning with him or any of the other soldiers; the smell of fear was just too strong. Turning his head to regard the child's potential mate he could smell fear on him as well. As an expert thief and prankster, Youko had lots of experience with using fear as a weapon against his enemies and as such knew that the amount of fear contained in this room was not a good thing. Unless someone did something to dissolve the fear, it was only a matter of time before something trigged a catastrophe.

Normally he would have cared less about this group of humans, after all the child was plenty strong enough to survive most anything that he could see happening and nor was the fear directed at her. However, her heart had only just begun to finally heal from the loss of her princess and he knew that it still very fragile right now. A loss to her potential mate could very well prove fatal to her and with his spirit tied to hers through the bonding with the guardian he would be killed as well. With the need to act obvious, the only question left was what should he do and so he turned his keen mind to doing something he had never done before – diffusing a fear bath instead of inflaming it.

_ Let's see if I can convince her to commune with me. Using my still meager powers directly will only make things worse, but her powers might just be what is needed for her to reassert her alpha status. _ Youko finally decided after a few moments. Then standing back up from where he had sat down after entering the lobby, he trotted over to where Ami was arguing with the soldier who still had a tight grip on her arm. Reaching Ami, he nuzzled up against her side.

Pausing for a moment in her useless argument, Ami glanced down at her friend and felt some of her irritation lift as she saw understanding of the situation reflected in his warm eyes. As she looked into those eyes, she felt the fight that was gripping her drain away and she turned her body and knelt down so that she could more easily look into his eyes, drawn as she was to them. Noticing the change in Ami's composure, the soldier released her arm so that she could kneel down. He did not, however, move away nor did he take his eyes off of her, just in case she was only acting.

From where he was trapped in the archway, Ryo watched on as Ami knelt down and placed her hands onto Youko's head, curious as to what she was doing. He had surmised a while ago that Youko was probably a physical manifestation of Ami's planetary power and so part of his mind wondered if he might be about to witness some spell being cast through Youko. He just hoped that whatever Ami was doing that she would do it fast as the majority of the soldiers still had their weapons trained on him and he doubted that the likely bullet proof glass of the arch doors would hold up for long against some of the weapons he saw out there.

Once Ami knelt fully down on the ground, she lightly placed her hands on the sides of Youko's head and then leaned forward so that her forehead rested against his. No longer consciously aware of what she was doing, she felt her body relax. Then after but a few seconds, she pulled back and abruptly stood up. With the sigil of Mercury blazing strong on her forehead, the spirit of her guardian planet looked around the room for a moment before pulling her arms crosswise up against her chest. And, then with a full circle spin of her body, she threw her arms out wide while she opened her hands so as to release thousands of fine ice crystals. Sailing through the room, each of the subzero crystals quickly sucked the heat out of the air as they sublimated.

Their attention drawn by the sudden chill, the soldiers as a group turned to follow the path of the sparkling white crystals back to their source and found Ami. Looking at the petite girl, each one of the soldiers gulped as they suddenly felt fear from realizing that she was one very pissed off Sailor Senshi.

"Mercury-sama, we have reason to believe…" the Lieutenant in charge began, but was cut off.

"There is no reason to fear. Urawa-san is not of this world, but he is in service to the princess." A voice devoid of Ami's normal warmth spoke.

Watching as Ami turned to stare at him, Ryo for the first time realized just how powerful that his girlfriend really was. While his human side had always been to a degree in awe of the Sailor Senshi, the older part of his soul had while recognizing the power of the Sailor Senshi had not considered her to be the equal of a First One. However, now both sides truly realized that the First Ones were nothing in comparison to the full might of a Sailor Senshi and that it was doubtful if even the First One held anything in comparison. Just looking into her eyes, which now seemed to reflect the endless blue of an infinitely deep mountain lake, he could see the power that was hers alone to command. Knowing what Ami wanted, Ryo let his form shift to that of his true Shadow self.

Shivering slightly as he saw Urawa revert to his true form, the Lieutenant easily recognized the glowing violet sigil on Urawa's head. Once he saw that he quickly turned his gaze away from that creature whose black skin seemed to suck in all light and said, "Gomen nasai Mercury-sama, we did not realize that you had non-humans in your service." Then picking up his radio he spoke, "This is Lieutenant Hyde, cancel the alert." Turning back to Ami he added, "If you are willing to give us a few minutes, we will get him properly entered into the system so that something like this does not happen again."

"Arigato" Ami replied with her regular tone as her sigil vanished. Exhausted from her little display, she slumped to the ground beside of Youko, not quite sure exactly what had happened, but knowing that somehow she had got their attention and adverted a potential disaster.

Once the inner door unlocked releasing him from his confinement, Ryo quickly made his way over to Ami to see how she was doing. Reassuring himself that she was okay, he gave her hand a squeeze before letting one of the soldiers escort him back to security. It took them close to fifteen minutes to get all of the necessary information and security overrides set so that the system would recognize him as being allowed access to the base in the future and to not initiate another lock down.

* * *

"Thanks for helping us with our school assignment Naru-san." ChibiUsa said as she, Naru and Diana left the library.

Replying, Naru said, "It was no problem ChibiUsa-chan. I enjoyed helping you and Diana and remember if you ever need any help with anything else be sure to ask."

"'kay" ChibiUsa replied.

"So how are the rest of your classes going?"

"Not too bad; though, a lot of it is review from what we have already learned." Diana said from her place a few paces in front of Naru and to the right.

"Hai, Mercury-sensei already has taught us the math and science, though the astronomy section was fun." ChibiUsa said.

"Because you learned some new stuff there?" Naru said, thinking about how Usagi and the others had originally been born on or in orbit of the various planets.

"Iie. Because it is so wrong." ChibiUsa said with laugh. "Just the right thing to have after Kanji lessons."

"Small Lady now that is not polite, after all they have only just begun exploring the solar system." Diana said, chastising her charge.

"Demo, they still think that Pluto is a planet." ChibiUsa said

"Pluto's not a planet?" Naru replied confused. "But then why was there a Sailor Pluto?"

"See what I mean." ChibiUsa said to Diana with a grin.

"Still ChibiUsa-chan you should not laugh at their ignorance." Diana replied. She did, though, have some trouble maintaining her straight face. Then turning her attention to Naru, she answered the other girl's question. "Pluto is just one of many similar sized objects in the Kuiper belt. Your astronomers just happened to discover it before the rest of the belt. And its supposed moon Charon is more of a coplanet than a moon," Diana said recalling one of her lessons.

"Hai and Pu once told me that unlike the other Sailor Senshi she was not called to serve at the founding of the Silver Millennium, instead she… How did she put it? Ah… can't remember, well she crashed the calling of the Sailor Senshi." ChibiUsa said, finishing with a large smile.

Thinking about the little bit that she knew about that older Sailor Senshi, Naru could imagine her doing something like that. _ Though that would make her old, very old. _ Naru realized _ Though, she was the Guardian of Time, so I guess that is reasonable. _ "So other than laughing at us 20th century folks with our astronomy lessons what do you think of the rest of your classes."

"History is fun." Diana replied after a few minutes of thought.

"Oh." Naru said, hoping that these two children wouldn't find another way to make her feel like a backward savage. Teaching them how to use the card catalog system in the library had been quite a blow in that direction. While normally the two pre-teens from the future rarely made much fuss about the backwardness of present day society as compared to their society that had nearly an additional thousand years of progress, they did occasionally let something slip – particularly when they came across something that mind boggled them. Seeing one of Umino's old computers had been one instance. Though, thankfully with how geeky that boy was, he had interpreted their comments as referring to the current high end computers and not something more.

When Diana had made her comment about being able to actually run programs on something with a clock speed measured in low hertz, kilobytes of memory, and only a tape and a 5.25 inch floppy as storage, Naru was sure that the girl had just blown their cover. With anyone else, some fast talking and diversion of the conversation would have taken care of the slip. But with Umino and his ear for gossip, Naru was sure that he had a tape recorder for a mind in much the same way that some people had a photographic memory, he would within a day realize that something was not right about Diana. But he had just joined her in marveling at how primitive early computers were and then launched into a long discussion of how primitive the computers were that sent man to the moon and how his calculator (though Naru thought that calling that thing a calculator was a bit of a stretch given the number of buttons that it had) was far more powerful than anything in the American Apollo program. An hour and a half later, Naru had finally managed to drag ChibiUsa and Diana away from Umino's house; though, with the unfortunate promise, for her, to bring them back the following Sunday.

Shaking her head, Naru still could not believe how utterly fascinated the two of them had become with Umino's lecture, asking all sorts of questions. While she liked Umino, she still had trouble stomaching a full encore of his "geeky" moments, but somehow he had managed to connect with those two kids. Of course, Naru figured it probably helped that the two of them were right in that amazement of everything age.

Returning her thoughts to the present, Naru's mind returned to this afternoon's library visit. As had been the case for the past couple of weeks, Naru spent a couple of days each week looking out after Diana and ChibiUsa – the days that she had off from helping her mom out at the shop. Originally before Usagi's awakening and then again later until the incident, she had more often than not spent these days with her best friend. Loosing Usagi had, consequently, left her listless, which was exasperated by an awkwardness that had come between her and the Sailor Senshi for it had been Usagi who had connected them to her and even them together amongst themselves. Even though Ami and Makoto were in her class, it was still only through Usagi that she really interacted with them. And, as such when Naru spent time with Usagi, more often than not it was either just the two of them or three if ChibiUsa was staying close to Usagi that day. She never resented the fact that Usagi was keeping her separated from the Sailor Senshi. To Naru it was just Usagi's way of trying to hold onto those fading illusions of a normal life and Naru was happy to due her part to support Usagi.

Her escape from the listless quasi-depression that had been holding her happened a couple of weeks ago when she had been out wandering the streets after school. She had no destination in mind and had not been paying any attention to where her feet took her. When she finally did look around, she had been quite surprised to find that she was standing midway to the door of the Tsukino household. Seeing the door, her eyes had then without thought traveled up to the second floor porch of the house. Looking at the porch for a few minutes, she let her thoughts drift to that of her best friend and that pink-haired daughter. She could easily remember how the two of them always found a way to bring a smile to her face whenever she needed one. Breaking her gaze away, Naru knew that no matter how much she might wish for the old times again, they would never return. Looking back down at the ground, Naru turned around, but as she did so a voice in her head finally spoke up and told her that while it would never be the same again, that didn't mean that she couldn't at least fight to reclaim what she could. Realizing how foolish she had been, Naru's mood was boosted once more and she turned back to the house and walked the rest of the way up to the front door.

When Ikuko opened the door after Naru's knock, she had been surprised to find Naru there. Ikuko's surprise further increased when Naru asked if ChibiUsa was up for coming out to hang out for the afternoon. ChibiUsa, who had heard the request in living room where she and Diana had been watching some Anime, immediately came bounding over in response, with Diana not far behind. Hearing the scampering of feet, both Ikuko and Naru had turned towards the living room. Seeing that ChibiUsa apparently had a friend over, Naru had felt her good mood evaporate as she realized that she had been a fool in thinking that a little kid would want to spend time with a teenager. Turning back to Ikuko, Naru had begun to apologize for not realizing that ChibiUsa had a friend over and for trying to break up that play date, an explanation that resulted in an amused expression on Ikuko's face and ChibiUsa and Diana breaking down into a fit of laughter.

"Naru-chan I am afraid you have gotten the wrong impression." Ikuko had said after a few moments.

"Nani?" Naru had replied.

"Hai, you see Diana is ChibiUsa's kitten. You see apparently their race can change their form to look like us."

"Hai, it's true." Diana had added in a voice that Naru instantly recognized as belonging to that grey kitten. Then further providing proof, Diana shifted back into her kitten form for Naru.

"Ah… okay…" Naru had replied as she digested that little revelation. After having learned that her best friend at age 14 had a 7 year old daughter, was a super hero, had wings, and a talking cat, seeing Diana change form was almost par for the course. Therefore, Naru managed to avoid fainting, though if only barely.

With that misunderstanding corrected, Naru found that both Diana and ChibiUsa were quite eager to go out and spend some time that afternoon with her. That afternoon had quickly grown into a couple of days each week with ChibiUsa looking forward to the days that Naru would be coming by and very quickly Naru began to take on the role of surrogate mother for ChibiUsa.

A little more than two weeks after she had begun spending time with ChibiUsa and Diana, Ikuko had invited her to stay for dinner one evening after returning with the two kids. Accepting Ikuko's offer she found herself shortly thereafter having some tea with Ikuko before Ikuko had to start preparing dinner. As they sipped their tea, Ikuko had thanked Naru for her help with ChibiUsa and Diana. Then after a few minutes of idle chat, Ikuko had broached the real reason why she had wanted to have a moment of Naru's time. Wording her questions carefully, she asked Naru why she was doing all of this, as after all wouldn't Naru prefer spending her free afternoons with children her own age instead of watching over ChibiUsa and Diana. Naru's response had been that this was her way of thanking Usagi for all she had done as Sailor Moon and helping the Sailor Senshi in their fight. Taking a few more sips of her tea, Naru then also admitted that watching over ChibiUsa helped her deal with the loss of Usagi and that as Usagi's best friend she felt that she owed her friend to watch over her daughter. Ikuko hadn't been able to fault Naru for any of those reasons and as such Naru's life was now quite integrated with that of ChibiUsa's and Diana's.

Today's trip to the library was a result of her surrogate mother role. Following that conversation with Ikuko, Naru had also begun to keep abreast of the two girl's school work, making sure that they got their assignments done and helping them where she could. One of those assignments was a light research project on the history of Tokyo and as such Naru had decided to take the two girls to the local library branch today. In retrospect, she realized that she should have expected that neither of the two girls would have known how to use the card catalog system, as there was no way to expect that stiff paper cards indexing books by subject, author, and title would still be used in a thousand years, especially given how many books Ami would have been able to collect over that time. Something far more efficient and smaller in size would therefore be needed. Consequently, she should not have been so surprised when the two kids were utterly dumbstruck at the idea of having to manually search through drawers to find the call numbers for the books that they might need and that there was no computer station where you could run a search on the book contents. Naru's reply of "umm… no" was met by the logical question of "why not?" from Diana, to which Naru had no reply. Thankfully after some grumbling, she was able to teach the two of them how to use the card catalogs and they were able to get started with looking for the various books.

While the afternoon session at the library got off to a slightly rocky start, it had turned out in the end to be quite productive and the two girls had found all the books that they would need to read for assembling their joint report and poster. Now all they had to do was cart the books home, a job that was being mostly carried out by Naru as the two girls had been a little over enthusiastic in selecting books. Turning the last corner before the bus stop, the three of them were brought to an abrupt stop by a scream of fear. Turning to look in the direction of the scream, they saw a strange looking man who was strapping a terrified girl to a table in front of the bus shelter.

_ No not another one! _ Naru cried out in fear in her mind as her body locked. Beside her, Diana was not in much better shape as she too felt fear from the apparent arrival of Galaxia's forces – Sailor Erion's warning of the devastation wrought by Galaxia's minions ringing in her mind.

Thankfully, ChibiUsa unlike the other two was not frozen with fear. Having experienced the danger of the Black Moon Family, the Dark Kingdom, and then a repeat of Rubeus and the Death Phantom, fear from simple demon attacks no longer affected her that much. While she knew that this could be the start of another one of those instances, the moment of intense fear was not here and her Senshi training instead came to the forefront. Her only thought as she activated her communicator to send out the alarm was to curse her inability to transform to fight. While she had no illusion that she would be able to do much against this new enemy, she just couldn't let an innocent be subjected to his attacks. But she could not transform and so what little she could do was reduced to nothingness. Ushering Naru and Diana back behind the street corner they had stepped out from, she only had the terrified screams from the victim to keep her mind company.

* * *

Walking along the street with Ami's hand in his own and Youko on Ami's other side, Ryo asked "So you don't remember anything of what you did?"

"Iie all I remember was getting upset that the soldiers weren't listening and then Youko trying to calm me down. Then the next thing I know that lieutenant is apologizing to me." Ami explained.

"That's too bad. However, the good news is that you used your powers."

"Just wished that I could remember." Ami replied slightly down trot.

"Hai I know you do and I wish you could remember too. But the important thing is that you were able to use the power again, which means that you haven't fully lost it. Just give it time and don't try to push it and you will be back to normal."

"Hai, I guess." Ami replied not feeling too sure. Then feeling Youko nuzzling up against her side, she bent down and roughed his fur up some, "Arigato for your help there too Youko. I am sure your calming me allowed me to do whatever it is I did."

"By the way, when you get your powers back you should figure out how to do whatever it was that you did as it should be a great way to stop arguments." Ryo said thinking of how Usagi and Rei used to get with each other, but remembering not to mention Usagi's name at the last moment.

"True." Ami replied as a slightly evil smile crossed her face, thinking of how useful it would be to get back at those who tried to disrupt her study time with silly fights or whatnot.

Coming up on a food market, Ryo said, "Hold up for a few moments, I need to pick up some fish for tonight, plus some fresh vegetables."

"Are you sure, we need those. There looked like there was enough food in the fridge this morning."

_ And this is why __Mizuno__-__san__ asked me to start cooking dinners for her daughter. With her late nights at the hospital she rarely has the time to cook dinner for Ami and while Ami is generally responsible with making herself a good dinner, apparently she tends to forgot when she was a problem to solve on her mind. Not that that surprises me _ Ryo thought to himself. Mizuno-san had made her request to Ryo when the two teenagers had returned from their afternoon date the previous Sunday. Mizuno-san had apparently noticed, probably from the lack of items disappearing from the fridge, that her daughter had reverted to her habit of subsisting on nothing more than simple sandwiches since she had begun to work at the research facility. And while a sandwich could be very healthy, the ones that Ami made did not fit that bill, as they were nothing more than two slices of whatever bread was readily at hand, the first slice of meat or cheese that she found in the fridge and a leaf of lettuce, since anything more complicated took too long to prepare as far was Ami was concerned. And on top of that both Ryo and Mizuno-san highly suspected that eating those sandwiches at regular intervals was not high on Ami's list either.

This type of behavior was not unusual for Ami and in the past Rikou had let Ami slide as Ami for the most part took good care of her body and generally Ami would live off of those sandwiches for only a couple of days at a time and never more than a week. However, this time things were different. So far already a month had gone by with no improvement in Ami's diet and Rikou suspected that if anything the frequency of sandwiches were getting less often. And, as such she had tried various techniques to get Ami to start eating regular meals again, even going as far as preparing meals for Ami a couple of days ahead of time and then freezing them. That solution had worked for all of about three days, before Ami once again slipped back into eating sandwiches.

Then this past Sunday as Ryo and Ami were out on their date, Rikou struck onto the solution. She had been once again trying to brainstorm ideas, but she kept coming back to the same problem – that Ami needed someone to actively remind her and if need, physically drag her down to the kitchen table. As she pondered that question, she thought of how if her daughter were some years older and married then this would probably be a moot issue, as she would have a husband to look after her, someone who could take the time to make the dinner and remind Ami to eat. She had just about been ready to dismiss that thought when she realized that while Ami was not yet married there was a very pleasant young man who was dating her daughter. Realizing that to be the solution, she had called Ryo's parents to discuss having him eat at her house at least a couple of days each week and her eating at his house some other days. When Ryo's father had pointed out that Ryo did not cook, Rikou had simply responded that if Ryo was thinking of having a serious relationship with her daughter then he had better learn to as Ami was not one to trust with such an important task as regularly cooking meals.

For Ryo this all worked out quite nice. His dad normally worked really late hours and his mother's hours were very eclectic and as such he was often home alone in the evening. And while he generally did not do much more then reheat leftovers that his mom had placed in the fridge, he did know how to stir fry when nothing else looked quite edible. And as a plus, he now got to spend some more time with Ami, who he had been seeing a lot less as a result of her work at the research facility.

With this dining arrangement, Ryo had spent the previous two nights eating dinner at Ami's and the night before those and then tomorrow night they would eat at his place. Last night while preparing dinner, he had noticed that they were short a few items and so had suggested that he meet her at her workplace when he finished up with his afternoon study classes and after which the two of them could stop by the grocer on the way home.

Walking into the store, the two of them had been browsing for about six minutes when Ami's communicator began to chirp. Slipping out a hands' free set she had gotten from the base, she affixed it to her ear and plugged the cord into her recently modified communicator. Establishing the connection, she slipped her hand into her pocket so that anybody else would think that she was talking on a portable phone or radio and not realize that the cord was attached to what appeared to be a wristwatch.

"Ami here." Ami said as the channel opened. Then listening for a few moments as ChibiUsa relayed the situation to them all, she waited for the others to give their acknowledgement before speaking to Minako and ChibiUsa. "I will pass along the information to our friends."

"Ami where are you, I can't see anything on the display. Are you and Ryo…" Minako asked.

"Minako-chan!" Ami yelled embarrassed by what her friend was insinuating.

"Well the only reason why I can think that you are keeping the lights out is if you are indecent and we are all girls after all, so that can't be just it." Minako continued not letting her friend escape.

"Iie that's not it. We are at the grocer." Ami began to hurriedly explain

"Oh is that so?" Minako said, her inflection showing even more interest.

"Iie! Iie!" Ami exclaimed as she felt her face start to burn up. "We are buying groceries and my hand is in my pocket." Ami explained before shutting down the link. Once she had done so she noticed that her yells of "Iie!" had gathered a bit of a crowd and now feeling even more mortified she wished that the floor would just open up and swallow her hole. "Mina-sama, gomen." Ami said to the shoppers she had disturbed with her outburst before turning back to Ryo. "I will be outside." she said before quickly taking her leave.

Watching her leave, Ryo knew that she was leaving so that she could get out of the embarrassing situation just as much as so that she could have some privacy while she called the military. Looking down at his list, he saw that he only had to get some rice wine vinegar and then he would be able to leave as well.

Once she had exited the store, Ami knelt down on the ground and reached into her subspace pocket in such a manner to the casual observer that it would look like she was reaching into her bag. Pulling out her computer, she activated the uplink between it and her communicator. Selecting the cellular telephone emulator, she uploaded the new program into her communicator along with the secure communications client. Then activating the appropriate level of encryption within the portion of the program that ran on her computer, she initiated dialing.

"This is Mercury, reporting in with a demon event." She said once the other party had answered and her computer had indicated that it had established the encrypted link with the telephone on the other end.

"The attack is reported to be located along bus rout fifteen at stop seventeen." She supplied in response to the question of where the attack was occurring.

"Nature of the demon is currently unknown. However, preliminary reports indicate that a hostile force is in control. Units have already been dispatched and I will be proceeding on foot as well to observe."

"Acknowledged, Mercury over and out." Ami said as she closed the channel after learning that it would be 30 minutes before the first military units would be able to arrive on site. With the recent lull in demon activity, the ready status of the military units had been downgraded to 30 minute ready status from the previous five minute ready status. Picking back up her bag, she was just in time for Ryo to come out of the grocer with his bags.

Taking one look at Ami, Ryo knew what Ami's plan was. "Just do me one favor and be careful. Remember that for now you are just an observer." Ryo said giving into the inevitable.

"Hai Ryo-chan. And thanks." Ami said as she mustered all of her courage to give him a quick peck on his cheek before turning beet red and then jogging off in the direction of the battle. Thankfully for her they were relatively close to where ChibiUsa said the demon attack was occurring, only about ten minutes by foot. If she had been able to become Sailor Mercury it would only have been two minutes. But even as a "normal" human running at a reasonable pace she would be there in only a short period of time. And while she was hoping that the enemy would be weak and taken care of before she arrived, part of her hoped that the enemy would stay around long enough so that she could get a reading.

* * *

_ Well so much for heading over to the mall for the evening. _ Minako thought to herself as she deactivated her communicator. Walking into an alleyway she called upon her powers while thinking, _ I will just have to make this demon regret messing with by evening plans. _ Now transformed, she left the alley, accelerating from a stop to a run. Weaving in and out of the pedestrian traffic, she quickly made the transition to the road or more accurately the rooftops of the various cars. With the relatively heavy traffic on the road and her close distance to demon attack, the road worked just as well for her as did the rooftop express.

After a few miles, she took a sharp left, leaving behind thankful drivers, and headed down a side street before making a right turn after a half dozen more blocks, which brought her in sight of the demon attack. _ Not good. _ she thought as she saw what appeared to be some new enemy trying to extract something from an unconscious and bound victim. She had been hoping for a loose demon like that one some time back, but this "soldier" in front of her obviously meant that they were once again dealing with an organized enemy.

"Halt right there. Public transit buses help us keep our streets less cluttered with traffic while helping the environment and are not your private hunting grounds. In the name of Venus I will punish you."

"She did not just say that. I can see Usagi with corny dialog, but…" Naru said to herself from where she, ChibiUsa, and Diana were huddled behind a car some distance away from the new enemy.

Hearing Naru's comment, ChibiUsa added her own two cents, "Hai, Venus can be just as scatter brained."

_ And here I was hoping they would be all more level headed like Ami. _ Naru thought. While she had met Minako a few times, she did not know that girl too well. In fact the only ones that she really knew anything about were Ami and Makoto, given that she had class with them, and she was at least somewhat familiar with Rei. Though, the Rei she knew was a very different Rei from the image that Rei tried to normally portray, given that she tended to see Rei primarily when the hot tempered girl was worried about Usagi and so to her Rei was more of softy with an occasional loud bark.

Hearing the challenge, Fisheye looked up from this victim who he had affixed to a table. "Can't have you interrupting." He said before snapping his fingers and summoning a demon that looked a bit liked a possessed manikin.

Not wasting any time Venus fired off one of her crescent beams at the demon drilling a coin sized hole in one of its arms. However, the demon was less than impressed and in a display of quick movement the creature was up in front of Venus attempting to take a healthy bite out of the blonde's shoulder. Surprised by how fast the demon moved, Venus was only barely able to duck and roll out of the way, avoiding that attack but not the kick to her stomach, which sent her flying through the air.

The expected hard impact with the pavement or a building never came, however. Instead, she suddenly felt herself enwrapped in a pair of arms. Looking up, she saw the smiling face of Jupiter. "Looks like we got here just in time." Jupiter said as she landed and let Venus go.

Returning to her feet, Venus saw that Mars, Uranus and Neptune had also arrived before saying, "Hai, now let's get this thing and teach another bad guy not to mess with our planet."

* * *

One of the stars of the Kakyuu system, attracted by the energies enveloping the third planet from the sun of the former Silver Millennium, fell to that planet's surface. Touching down in the Juuban ward of Tokyo that star reconstituted its physical body. After stretching out her body so as to work out the stiffness that always seemed to plague Sailor Star Fighter after star travel, she began to take in her surroundings. _Hmm__… looks like the locals of this planet have done fairly well since the fall of the Silver Millennium. Though, I wonder why I am feeling the pull of Star Children here. They have not yet left the cradle of their planet and therefore there is no way for their Star Children to have returned. _ Fighter thought to herself as she turned her attention to the late afternoon skyline of Tokyo.

Knowing that the only way that she was going to find answers was to go out into the city itself, Fighter left the park. Not quite sure of what she was going to find or how she was going to find it, she decided to just let her feet do the walking. She wondered if this feeling of awoken Star Children was what had drawn Galaxia's attention. But even if this was not what had attracted Galaxia's attention something odd was going on with this planet and her princess needed to be made aware of it.

Now walking along the streets, she paid no attention to the locals who tended to stare and gawk at her rather skimpy uniform. Like many of her kind, her uniform and those of her two sisters was quite abbreviated. Though, in the case of their particular uniforms, the hot climate of their planet necessitated an even more abbreviated uniform. Of course, the magic of their uniform would have been able to keep them cool, but there was no sense wasting energy to keep a spell going when simple uniform modifications would take care of the problem. Plus, she had lost count of the number of times that somebody had underestimated her because of her outfit. One would think that people would know not to underestimate Star Children, but half the people in the Cosmos are below average after all.

Passing in front of an art studio, Fighter stopped to admire some of the works that were in the window. While she was not by any degree any thing of an art fan, she did find an occasional item that she liked and one of the ones on display in the shop window was such an item. Looking down at the price tag attached to the painting, she realized that there was no way she could buy it - given that she didn't think the people on this local planet took galactic credits. _ Maybe if I end up being here for a while I could look into finding away to get some local currency ._ Fighter thought to herself; though, she doubted she would be here long enough to have to worry about money. Giving the painting once last look, she finally broke her gaze away and resumed her walk while thinking, _ And anyways it's not like I really should be wasting energy carting stuff like that around. It's not like I am going to be heading back home in the next few days. In fact I don't think the princess is going to want us to come home until we have taken care of whatever has attracted __Galaxia__'s attention, since as long as we are away, the ruling council can't change our orders. _

Some minutes later after resuming her stroll, she heard someone call out "Look out!" before being abruptly tackled to the ground. Having been focused on the sights instead of paying close attention to her surroundings, Fighter was caught utterly by surprise. Lying on the ground for a few moments longer than her she should have, Fighter took that time to collect her wits. The first thing she became aware of was that her attacker was a blond haired girl wearing some kind of uniform. Turning her gaze to take in the rest of the scene, she saw similarly decked out fighters using magic to face off against some kind of creature. _ Sailor Soldiers! How can this be? But there __shouldn__'t be any Star Children. _ Fighter screamed in her head as she connected the familiar hum of energies being used with what she suspected to be the identity of these girls. Her mind now fully occupied by this realization, Fighter did not realize that Sailor Venus was speaking to her. And so it came as quite a shock to Venus when Fighter suddenly stood up and began looking for a better vantage point to watch the battle from.

Still not realizing that the Sailor Senshi who had saved her from getting blasted was still trying to talk to her; Fighter let her gaze run over the assembled crew of Sailor Soldiers. Assessing their condition, she noted that they all seemed to be showing signs of exhaustion, a sure sign that they were being over whelmed by their enemy. However, one of the assembled group appeared to be in much better condition; though, strangely she seemed to be wearing a very different uniform design. _ She must not be a Silver Millennium Sailor Soldier, but what would a Star Child from outside of the system be doing here? Could she be the one responsible for awakening the children of this system? Maybe she hoped that by resurrecting these __Senshi__ she could develop a weapon to use against __Galaxia_ Fighter thought to herself as she tried to puzzle through the conundrum that Sailor Erion was posing by her existence. _ However, now is not the time to wonder about that. Now is the time for fighting, the puzzle will have to come later. _ Fighter thought to herself as she slipped into her tactical mindset.

Venus noticed the change in Fighter's demeanor and half formed thoughts of this bystander doing something stupid had just begun to form when that same bystander called out "Star Serious Laser" and unleashed a beam of energy at the demon. _ Nani, she is a Sailor __Senshi_ Venus thought as her mind froze for a moment. Unfortunately, that moment of inattention was all that was needed for the demon's counter attack to hit Venus who unlike Fighter had not dodge out of the way.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Erion noted the unknown attack. Turning her head to track back the attack she was surprised to see what looked to be a Sailor Senshi from outside the Solar system. Putting aside the question of what that Senshi was doing her, Erion instead allowed herself to relax for a moment for now things were finally looking up for them. Unfortunately, till now the battle had been one of attrition with their two sides too evenly matched. Without Sailor Moon, the Senshi lacked the ability to outright kill the demon; though, they had been able to at least confine it to this street intersection. She knew from their training that the others did have an attack that would kill the demon; the only problem was that to use it would require them all to pull out of the fight so that they could pool their power together, which would just let the demon escape. And as such they were in this stalemate – one that Erion also realized that they were slowly loosing.

Within but a few short minutes of Sailor Fighter's arrival, the battle began to visibly turn in favor of the Sailor Senshi. And rallied by the turn in momentum, the exhausted Sailor Senshi began to find a second wind. Jumping out of the way of another attack from the demon, Venus let a confident smile grace her face once again as she began to plan for the use of the Sailor Planet Attack. Watching the new Sailor Senshi and Erion double team the demon, she ordered the others to pull back and to form into the charging ring.

As the energies for the Planet Attack were summoned, Ami watched on with nervous anticipation from behind the car that she, ChibiUsa, Diana, and Naru were hiding behind. She had tried to get the other three girls to leave when she had arrived, but ChibiUsa was unwilling to leave the others behind even if she couldn't do anything. And with ChibiUsa staying, Diana was staying and of course Naru refused to leave the two girls. Thankfully so far only one stray blast had come anywhere near them and the car that they were hiding behind had been and would continue to be sufficient protection as long as her friends kept the demon away. For Ami, watching the battle from the sidelines was the hardest thing for her to do. She might not have been the strongest fighter, but when she had her powers she was at least able to do something. Now she could only watch on and hope that the attempt to use the Planet Attack would not backfire or if it did that her friends would be able to hold on for the final few minutes till the gunships arrived.

Sensing Ami's melancholy thoughts, Youko gave a comforting whine and nuzzled up against her. In response, Ami absently laid a hand down on Youko's head and began to scratch him. As her mood began to recover, Ami's thoughts turned instead to tomorrow. Today would hopefully be the last day in which she was entirely useless, as tomorrow she was to report to the armory and would be issued a rifle and a sidearm. She had been in possession of the necessary paper work for quite a while. But the military refused to issue her any firearms until she had passed her proficiency exams. Of course, a bullet wasn't much of a threat to a demon, but Ami also knew that at times even the smallest thing could make the difference, after all how much of a threat were razor sharp roses, and even more importantly she would at least be able to do something, plus the wizards had been able to develop a small set of bullets for them to use – ones that would have an extra punch.

Able to feel the sudden heavy charge of energy in the air, Ami and ChibiUsa both turned their attention to the Sailor Senshi just as the Senshi unleashed the column of combined planetary energy. As they watched, the column arced up into the sky before turning over and hitting the unaware demon, obliterating it. The four girls hiding behind the car collectively held their breaths for a few moments as they watched the space where the demon had been while keeping their fingers crossed that it was truly gone.

Confirming what her eyes were telling her with her computer, Ami released a sigh and turning around slumped down on the ground with her back resting up against the car. She was just about to stand back up when she heard the sound of rotors. Turning her head, she along with the other three saw the Cobra gunships swoop in on the former demon battle ground.

"Just in time to miss everything." Naru remarked.

"Hai. Though, their timing was still good, as if that Sailor Planet attack had failed their presence now would have allowed the others to regroup and try again." Ami replied to Naru. Then toggling the secondary channel on her communicator, she began to speak. "This is Sailor Mercury to JSDF aircraft, the threat has been neutralized. I repeat the threat has been neutralized."

"This is Foxbat-1, we acknowledge. Is there any need of medical assistance?"

"Ascertaining that now." Ami replied as she got up and dashed over to the bus stop. As she reached the unconscious girl, she gasped as she recognized her to be Furuhata Unazuki. Holding her breath, Ami began to check her for a pulse and was relieved to find one. Then giving Unazuki a light shake she said, "Unazuki -chan are you okay?"

"Opening her eyes, Unazuki replied "Ooh my head what happened."

Smiling, Ami thumbed the transmitter and quietly said, "Iie, no medical assistance required." before turning back to Unazuki and saying more loudly "you appear to have been attacked by a demon. The Sailor Senshi just finished defeating it."

"Understood. Foxbat flight returning to base. Foxbat flight out." The leader of the Foxbat flight replied over the communicator.

"Come, let me help you back home." Ami said as helped Unazuki to her feet and began leading the other girl out of the area.

"Mizuno-chan, who were you talking to and what were you doing here?"

"I was walking home when I heard you scream and as for who I was talking to, I called the police as soon as I realized what was happening and I was just letting them know that you are okay. I assume that you would prefer to go home instead of to the hospital."

"Hai, that's right." Unazuki replied as the two of the left the area.

* * *

Left behind by the car, when Ami had left to go check on the victim, Naru, ChibiUsa, and Diana had stood up and watched the arriving copters. The three of them all got a very nice view of the underbellies of the craft and their various armaments as the craft passed overhead, slowly banking around. Watching the craft intently, they were puzzled when one of them suddenly pulled up in the middle of its turn and began to hover in place.

"Umm… what is the helicopter doing?" Diana asked when that oddball copter began to make its way to intersection where the Sailor Senshi had fought the demon.

"I have no idea, but it looks like it is trying to land." Naru said as she tried to figure out what was going on, which was made even more perplexing by the fact that the other two copters were continued on their way.

* * *

"Understood, Foxbat flight returning to base. Foxbat flight out." Keffer said over the radio before switching to the intra-flight channel. "All units mission accomplished return to base."

Receiving a series of affirmative responses, Keffer slowly altered his gunship's nose and began to turn it back towards the airfield. _ As much as I dislike having dinner interrupted for nothing, I am happier that they were able to take care of it fully before we arrived. _ Keffer thought to himself as he gave the battlefield one last look over. "Huh? Is that who I think it is?" Keffer thought out loud as he his eye caught sight of something. Reversing the flight controls so that the gunship returned to a hover, he held his position as he took a second look. "It couldn't be her, could it? But then again she is associated with the Sailor Senshi, so I guess it is not unreasonable."

"Foxbat flight this is Foxbat-1. There is something I need to take care of. Proceed to base ahead of me."

"Keffer-san what the hell do you mean there is something you need to do?" Ivanova's voice yelled across the radio.

"Remember what I mentioned about that girl I know who is associated with the Sailor Senshi, well she is down there and I want to go check in with her."

"Keffer-san you are nuts! You can't just go waltz on down and say hi." The pilot of Foxbat-2 said.

"Sure I can, there is sufficient clearance in the intersection down there for me to land." Keffer replied as he began to angle his craft over to his indicated landing area.

"Understood, this is Foxbat-3 returning to base. Come on Foxbat-2." The pilot of the third gunship said and then added, "The CAG is really not going to like this."

However, thoughts of his eventual reprimand never crossed Keffer's mind. Instead, his only thoughts were on checking in with Diana. With his craft now properly aligned above the intersection, he began the slow painstaking process of landing as he carefully watched all of his instruments and continuously scanned his surrounding to make sure that he did not bump into anything.

"You know Keffer-san if you get us killed, I am going to make your afterlife a very painful one." Ivanova said on the radio from her seat behind Keffer.

"Hai, I accept your conditions. Now just keep your eyes open and make sure that I don't bump into some sign. I mean getting the rotors caught up in some Ramen hut's sign would just be a pathetic way to go."

As a result of the dedicated of the two officers, Keffer was after a very slow landing process, able to land with no hitches. Flipping the switches, he disengaged the engines. After quickly running through the rest of the post landing checklist, he unbuckled his harness. Then opening the hatch, he slung himself out and onto the ground.

As one might expect, the Senshi had of course all stayed on the scene once they had noticed the gunship landing, all quite interested in what would bring the pilot down as well as to gawk at the military aircraft. While Minako had seen some of them during her visits to Zima, she had until now not had the opportunity to see one up close and so once Keffer left the craft they all began walking up. Also included in the group were Naru, ChibiUsa, and Diana each of them just as much drawn as the transformed Senshi.

Seeing Diana heading over, Keffer waved and called out "Diana-chan."

Hearing her name, Diana looked up and with a surprised voice replied, "Keffer-san?"

* * *

Floating in a golden sea of nothingness, a silver-haired girl who was curled up in the fetal position slept unaware of the passage of time. As her soul slowly breathed, her dreams were filled with nothing more than the lullaby of the crystal – the lullaby of her people, the Guardians of the Cosmos. The music of that lullaby soothes the soul and even a mind filled with a hundred questions would before long succumb to it and fall into a restful slumber. Few have ever heard that lullaby for it is generally only sung for a child of the Cosmos. And even rarer is for one to hear the lullaby in all of its glory outside of the ultimate dimension, so rare that only one girl has ever had that lullaby sung to her in its entirety and for that she is entirely grateful for until recently that was her only memory of her mother.

Appearing in the Sea of Chaos, Izumi rapidly blinked a few times to clear away the spots, which were after effects of the planer jump, from her vision. Looking around the golden nothingness, her eyes latched onto the silver-haired girl who was the realm's only other occupant. Seeing the other girl reassured her that she had successfully made her cross-planer-cross-dimensional jump successfully and as such Izumi let out a sigh of relief. While she was fairly well versed with these jumps, they were still new to her and she did occasionally make a mistake. And of course with her luck, her mistakes always had her ending up in some really weird places. The worst of those had been a strange world in which her mother's duality had manifested itself as two separate people – one an airhead princess and the other the younger sister of her father. That whacked out world still gave her the creeps whenever she thought about it.

Shaking her head, Izumi shoved those thoughts out of her mind – now was not the time to revisit them. Nope now was the time to have some fun. Letting a smile return to her face, she began to make her way through the sea to the sleeping girl. Reaching Usagi, Izumi began to gently shake the other girl.

With the lull of the lullaby broken by the shaking, Usagi slowly became aware that someone was shaking her. Tentatively opening her eyes, she turned her head to regard her shaker and found an auburn hired girl whose hair was styled up so that she had two long streamers of hair that were tied up with white wraps hanging down in front. _ Nani, who is this? _ Usagi thought to herself as her memory came up absolutely blank.

Apparently oblivious to Usagi's confusion, Izumi said, "Nice to finally meet'cha princess."

"Huh? Who are you?" Usagi asked with absolutely no clue as to what was going on.

"My name is Izumi, Usagi-chan."

"Izumi-chan?"

"Hai, I'm your sister." The girl replied.

"My sister?" Usagi repeated, her mind stumbling. _ I have a sister? But there's just __Shingo__. Is she from the Moon? _ she thought to herself as she tried to rack her mind looking for Izumi's identity. She was pretty sure that she was an only child back on the moon. _ Maybe she is another daughter, but __ChibiUsa__ masqueraded as my cousin. _

"Hai, I'm your sister in the same manner that your Sailor Senshi are sisters with each other." Izumi said. Then realizing something she continued, though more to herself, "I guess that also means that I am a sister of my mother and father, ewe."

"Huh?" the now utterly confused Usagi said.

Looking over at Usagi, Izumi saw that she had lost the silver-haired girl. Thinking for a moment, she came to a decision. "Well since auntie says you won't remember any of this when you wakeup anyways, there shouldn't be any harm in me telling you. Every Sailor Senshi is born from the Galactic Cauldron and as such their souls are all kin – the Kin of the Stars." Izumi said before pausing to make sure that Usagi was following. Seeing that she was just barely, Izumi gave a slight sigh before continuing, "you and I, however, were born from the Cauldron of the Cosmos and so like the Sailor Senshi we are kin – the Kin of the Cosmos. I know this doesn't make much sense now, but when you see your Star Cauldron it will. Just be glad that you don't have to sit through one of my auntie's lectures to learn." That last part was said with a shiver as Izumi remembered those quite painful class sessions.

"I think I understand, but what do you mean by me being Kin of the Cosmos?" Usagi asked.

"That my dear Usa-chan is what you are – Sailor Cosmos." Izumi said as she placed a finger on Usagi's nose. Then pulling it back she gave a giggle as she spun around seeming to take in the Sea of Chaos for the first time. Once she was facing Usagi again, she said, "You know princess, you really need to do something about living up the place." And then after a few minutes, with a gleeful gleam in she added, "Hey since you just woke up, let me help you."

"Umm, okay?" Usagi replied not quite a hundred percent sure that this was really a good idea.

Not having even waited for Usagi's response, Izumi had already removed a string of bells tied together that had been hidden away in her kimono. Looking back at Usagi, she gave the other girl a smile before beginning a song that she accompanied with dance.

"Ah…" Usagi began but broke off when a whirlwind of energy built up around the odd girl who was visiting her. As she watched on in fascination, the energy exploded outwards and spread through the sea, transforming the nothingness into a grassy plain with a dense forest a short distance off in the distance.

Blinking her eyes a few times to make sure that she wasn't imaging things, Usagi asked, "Izumi-chan where are we?"

Opening her eyes, now that the dance was finished, Izumi heard Usagi's question and looked around. Slipping a hand behind her head, she sheepishly replied, "Umm oops. Sorry about that Usa-chan. I wanted to change the sea to look like my room but it looks like I changed it too look like that RPG world where I had brought my birth mother's younger self."

"Okay…" was all Usagi could think to say as Izumi once again began her dance anew.

This time when the scenery shifted it was to what was obviously a girl's bedroom and Izumi said "There we go; now that's better."

"Where are we?" Usagi asked again.

"We're in my room Usa-chan. Or at least this is what my bedroom looks like since we are after all still in the Sea of Chaos. With you still being dead and all; can't really bring you to my world. But once you wake up and get all better, then we can have loads of fun together."

"Ah, okay?" Usagi replied, as she was slowly coming to the conclusion that this Izumi character was nutters, after all who has heard of "getting better" from being dead.

"Hey, you like playing Sailor V games right?"

"Hai!" Usagi enthusiastically replied as her thoughts of Izumi being a nutcase were forgotten.

"Then you have to try out this new Sailor Q video game I got a couple of weeks ago."

"Sailor Q?" Usagi asked.

"Yep" Izumi replied with a large smile and nod as she turned on the video game system. "It's load of fun. Yeah the main character seems to like to curse you, Usa-chan, out a lot. But whoever designed the game had a real humor streak." Izumi said before going into detail of explaining how the controls worked and the various attacks she had managed to unlock for Sailor Q. And within but a few minutes the two girls became enveloped in the game as they ran Sailor Q all around the virtual world saving cats from trees and helping the cops deal with the various street gangs.

Many hours later, Izumi suddenly exclaimed, "Ooh, I have heard of this level." as she clapped her hands together.

"What's so special about this level?" Usagi asked as Izumi jumped up and ran over to her desk and began rummaging around it – tossing papers and books every which direction.

When Izumi resurfaced from the depths of her desk a few minutes later she was holding what was obviously a strategy guide. Returning to where Usagi was sitting with the game paused, she opened up the guide. As she did so, Usagi noticed that the cover had a picture of a little girl with heart shaped odangos and who was holding up her right hand up in the V-sign.

As she flipped though the pages Izumi said, "If we do this level right and set off a fireworks display that rivals the America birthday ones in New York City then we get to unlock the secret Starship Enterprise levels." Then finding the page she was looking for, Izumi held it up for Usagi to see before continuing, "Now according to this ChibiChibi person we need to make sure to open every fireworks crate inside of the burning factory before we catch the loose monkey."

"Monkey?" Usagi asked confused.

"Hai." Izumi acknowledged before unpausing the game and letting Sailor Q walk up to a crying boy who had lost his pet monkey.

* * *

"Thank you for your report Fighter. I believe that your suspicions regarding the former Silver Millennium are correct. I do not have any ideas as to how their Star Children could have been reborn with life confined to just that one planet. However, if any of the star systems were going to be different then it would be the Silver Millennium." The Fireball Princess said to the kneeling holographic project of Sailor Fighter.

"Your highness why is that?" Fighter asked wondering why this fallen system would be any different.

"I guess it was probably not part of the education for you three, after all the Silver Millennium had been utterly destroyed and that last survey indicated that recolonization of the other planets was still a long way off. What you do not realize is that the Sailor Soldiers of the Silver Millennium are elemental warriors."

"Elemental warriors, but why is that unusual? I know none of our powers are aligned to any element. But Sailor Capricorn's powers are aligned with that of ice."

Smiling, Kakyuu spoke to correct Fighter's misunderstanding. "No that is not what I meant when I said they were elemental warriors. Yes, Capricorn's powers are aligned with ice and there are the twin Sailor Soldiers from our neighboring system who have powers aligned with fire. But that is not what I am referring to. The powers of those Soldiers are just aligned with an element, but the power of that element does not flow through their blood. The soldiers of the Silver Millennium are all as much incarnations of their element as they are the souls of their stars. I am sure you have heard the legends of the Forbidden Soldier or the Guardian of Time."

"Yes, I remember those legends, but what do those tales have to with the Silver Millennium?"

"Those legends are true and both of those soldiers are stars of the Silver Millennium."

"What!" Fighter exclaimed as she suddenly stood up.

Now forcing a laugh that threatened to escape into submission, Kakyuu replied "Do not worry my precious Fighter, I am sure that neither of those two are as ruthless as the legends make them out to be. Remember they are as much Kin of the Stars as we are. They like the rest of the Silver Millennium stars just have an extra power that comes from an added calling in life.

"Back in the early days of the Silver Millennium much debate was given to what the meaning of that responsibility was. Whatever it was, it was something that attracted the being Metalia during the last Sailor War – a creature that had defeated countless Sailor Soldiers in battle before but was stopped by the queen of that system."

"But I thought that the Kin of the Stars were forbidden to ever rule?" Fighter interjected.

"And that is true. The queen was not a star child, but yet the bonding artifact of that system held a power that surpassed that of even a Sailor Soldier. The existence of that artifact is yet another mystery of the Silver Millennium. While the creation of powerful bonding artifacts is not unusual and in our case the crystal had so much power that it became my line, there has never been a crystal with any where near the amount of power as held by that one.

"Fighter, I do not know what it is in that system that is attracting Galaxia, but that system must be Galaxia's target. Thankfully, she like everyone else must not realize that its star children have reawakened, otherwise she would already be there laying waste to that planet. The hope of the galaxy lies somewhere on that planet. That I am sure of. I do not know what this Light of Hope is, but whatever it is, it is what the Sailor Soldiers of that star were given their power to protect."

"But if that is the case, your highness, then we are in deep trouble. The star children on that planet must only have just awoken, as their powers are barely at the level of a ten year-old."

Frowning as she was reminded of that detail, Kakyuu knew that time was not on their side. The guardians of that system would need to be trained and fast, plus the Light of Hope needed to be found and its secrets learned. Coming to a decision, she gave her orders, "Fighter you are hereby instructed to contact Maker and Healer and to have them rendezvous with you on the 3rd planet of the former Silver Millennium. The three of you are then to take whatever actions you deem necessary to train your sisters to their utmost capabilities. You are hereby relieved of any restrictions regarding proper conduct and behavior unbecoming of royalty. You are also to locate the Light of Hope. The Light of Hope must be protected at all costs. If we lose that weapon, Galaxia wins."

"I understand your highness; your commands will be fulfilled." And with that Fighter gave the holographic image of her princess a salute before disengaging the transmitter.

Watching Fighter's image fade away, Kakyuu let herself have a sigh of relief. The mystery of Galaxia's actions appeared to have been solved and with it the key to victory that she had been hoping for had been found. Kakyuu briefly contemplated contacting the other systems and asking for their help. However, she dismissed that thought as being too risky. While she trusted the other Sailor Soldiers implicitly, there was the real potential that her communique might be intercepted and that would be disastrous. Their only hope was that her three soldiers would be able to find the Light of Hope before Galaxia; she could not afford to risk the possibility of letting Galaxia know where the Light of Hope lay.

Removing her transmission key from the communication console, Kakyuu was just finishing her thoughts over whether or not to contact the other systems when the doors to the communication room were thrown open. Looking up at the disturbance, Kakyuu saw the minister of defense and a squad of armed soldiers.

"Minister Dean what do I owe this visit?" Kakyuu said in a pleasant tone that would be more appropriate if the minister had just invited her in for some tea instead of having stormed in with armed guards to the communication room.

"Sailor Kakyuu" Dean said spitting out the name, "I take it you have just been in contact with one of the other Sailor Soldiers."

"Yes minister that is correct. Fighter was just updating me on the progress of her mission and what she has found so far."

"And I assume that you did not give the recall order as you had been instructed to do weeks ago. And don't try to lie to me, all communications through this room are recorded and we have already issued a warrant to review all of your communications."

"I had no thought of lying to you minister." _ Not that you will find the logs useful, as I have already used the override virus that has been passed down from my predecessors to wipe the system clean. _ "And yes, I did not give Fighter the recall order. In fact I have given her further orders to pass along to the others, which will keep them away from our world for even longer."

"Princess Kakyuu you have gone too far this time. The council will have your head for this. You know that we are practically defenseless without them here and you had been given explicit instructions from the council itself to call them back. Guards arrest her!"

Looking over at the trepid looking guards who slowly made their way to her Kakyuu spoke to them, "Do not worry, I do not plan to resist and I do not hold your actions against you. You are after all required to follow your orders and I must face the consequences for my actions."

With those words spoken, the soldiers now more confidently approached Kakyuu having been reassured that they weren't about to become the first causalities in a civil war. Taking Kakyuu's communication key and access badge, the soldier looked apologetic, but the princess just smiled at him and then held out her arms to another soldier so that he could affix the anti-magic manacles. While designed for non-Star Children, the manacles would still serve to substantially restrict her ability to use her powers. However, as she was a Kin of the Stars and not just a mortal, she could easily overload the manacles and escape from them should she choose; though, such an escape would leave her powers critically low for upwards of a day afterwards.

With her now bound, the soldiers began to escort her out of the communication room and eventually to the prison cells. Beside her, a half dozen soldiers with primed plasma rifles kept watch in case she would try to bolt. As she passed by Dean, he stopped her for a moment to say, "This is the last time you will have disobeyed the council. Mark my words princess, I will see that before the fortnight is out that you will be stripped of your position."

Smiling in spite of the gravity of the situation, Kakyuu replied, "You do realize that the only way to strip me of my position is to have me executed. And while I have no illusions that you would love to gladly sign the warrant for my execution, I just wonder if you really would have the courage to do so. After all, kill me and our system will be completely defenseless for at least 10 years. And that is assuming that my star does not decide to withhold the birth of a new Kin of the Stars. The stars do not take kindly to the executions of their children. Planet Athron was without its protector for ten generations after its Sailor Soldier was executed for treason.

"I could care less about you or your successor. But the other three will surely feel your death and with that they will return and then they will be given their new orders."

Sighing at the stupidity of the man in front of her Kakyuu replied "Minister Dean, I would have thought that you of all people would understand how the Sailor Soldiers of our system are bounded. They are bound to my Star Seed and with my death and until my successor is ready to take on the mantle of a Sailor Soldier, they are answerable to no one. With my death, my last orders to them will become their standing orders until my successor gives them new ones. And know this: the mission for which I have assigned them supersedes any other concerns. They know that not even the fall of our home world is to break them from their duty."

"Kakyuu you have doomed as all then! I should shoot you right now." Dean said with barely controlled rage.

"If that is what you feel is best, then go ahead and shoot me. I will die with my soul at rest knowing that I have taken the one and only action that can save not just our world, but every other world of this galaxy from the terror of Sailor Galaxia. The only thing I ask of you Minister Dean is this, are you sure without a thread of doubt that executing me here is what is best for our people. If you are sure, then as a servant of this world it is my responsibility to die."

When Kakyuu finished speaking a tense silence fell over the group as the two faced off against each. As the seconds ticked by, Kakyuu's gaze seemed to dare the minister to follow through on his threat. To either side of their princess, the soldiers nervously awaited the minister's orders, each one silent praying that the minister would come to his senses. For the most part they had no idea of what to make of this apparent power struggle between their princess and the minister. And even those who felt betrayed by their princess's actions did not want to be witness to her summary execution.

Watching the standoff continue to drag on, the detail commander began to think that it looked like the resolution of this confrontation would be up to him. But just as he was about to order his men to continue with escorting the princess to the holding cells, Dean finally spoke. "No I think I will wait for a trial first. I won't give you the satisfaction of becoming a martyr." Then turning to the detail commander he said, "Take her away."

_ Now are you sparing me for the moment because you are having second thoughts or is because you are too much of a coward. Unfortunately, I feel that it is the later. _ Kakyuu thought as she was led away from the minister. _ I just hope that my dear children will be okay on their own. And Fighter I hope she __doesn__'t blame herself for what is to happen. With any luck Maker and Healer will arrive before the execution order is given. _

Walking into her cell, Kakyuu sat down on the bed as the guard activated the force barrier and lowered the physical barrier into place. She knew that there would be an outcry in the streets when her people learned of her crimes and that today would be recorded as a dark day for their planet – an error in history that might never be corrected. However, Kakyuu had no regrets. She had known ever since she first learned of the Sailor Wars that her destiny lay in tears. As bond holder of the Star Children of Kakyuu and its associated colonies, she was the one entrusted with the burden of the knowledge of the Sailor Wars. She knew not why it was decided that only the bond holders would be told of the Sailor Wars and instructed to pass it down the line, but that was the way. She guessed it was so that the severity of the information would never be lost to the diluting pubic consciousness.

Like each of her predecessors, she had learned of the horror of the Sailor Wars when she had reached the age of maturity at seventeen. The day had been a wonderful celebration of the completion of her training, both in combat and in politics. Having reached the age of maturity, she would be ready to take her position on the council and be given command of the Sailor Soldiers. No longer were the three to be her guardians, now they were to become her hands for protecting the system. But as happy as the day had been, the happiness was heavily outweighed by the despair of that evening's nightmare.

She had but laid herself down for sleep when she had found herself standing in a dreamscape above the surface of her star. Confused she had been comforted by a strangely familiar voice. Finding that it belonged to her predecessor she had been quite surprised as none of her three Soldiers had mentioned anything about this happening. But as she soon learned, none of those three had any such experience and furthermore this was to be her only contact with her predecessor. And, from there she learned of the tale that had been passed down through generations of Sailor Soldiers – of the great horror of the Sailor Wars and the plague of Sailor Chaos. By learning the story the way that she did, she knew that her predecessor was telling the truth just as she knew that she had heard it with exaggeration. And as such, the story was passed down to another generation without alteration or loss.

Like each of her predecessors, she did not speak of what she experienced that night to anybody else nor did she let anyone realize the sadness that was now carried in her heart. Or least she had tried to, but one person, the one who knew her the best, had realized the next morning that something was bothering the young princess. Not that Kakyuu was all that surprised as Fighter was the one who during her childhood that Kakyuu would go to whenever she got scared. There were quite a many nights in which the young princess slept in the bed snuggled up with Fighter. And as such, it was impossible for the now grown princess to fully hide the sorrow she felt from her guardian.

However, as much as Fighter was able to see through Kakyuu's façade, she was also able to see that Kakyuu did not want to talk about it either. Respecting Kakyuu's wishes, she simply gave her friend a comforting hug, allowing the princess to cry the tears for the tragedy and letting her know that she would always be there for her even if it was to comfort without knowing what she was comforting the princess of.

Unfortunately, that meant that now that the evil of Sailor Chaos had reached their system that she was the only one who knew just what danger they faced. She could have tried to explain it to the others and some would have listened, but not enough. No as long as she was able to do what she needed to do that was all that was important. And now that the Silver Millennium had been found to be returning to life, she knew that it was only a matter of time before her kin found the Light of Hope and brought an end to the Sailor Wars once and for all or died trying. And as such, she felt that she had accomplished her reason for being.

* * *

While Usagi and Izumi had managed to unlock the secret Starship Enterprise levels, they had run out of time to play them. With many apologies, Izumi informed Usagi that she had to go home, but promised to be back before long so that they could continue playing. And then with a half hearted grumble about how unfair it was that her mother who was younger than her was setting her bedtimes, Izumi vanished and the Sea of Chaos returned to its golden nothingness.

_ And I thought things were weird before when I just had a talking cat and a daughter from the future living with me. _ Usagi thought to herself as she took in the natural state of the Sea of Chaos. _Izumi__-__chan__ is definitely strange, but she is fun to be with. I think __Naru__ would like her. __Hotaru__ and __ChibiUsa__ definitely would. _ Usagi thought with a smile. _ Though, I still can't make heads or tales of anything she has said about her mother, oh well. _ Not even her memories from the Silver Millennium had helped her in understanding what Izumi had said about her mother and if it were not for the green crystal dagger that Izumi had left her, Usagi would have thought that she had just dreamed everything. However, the dagger she held in her hand was quite real; though, she had no idea why Izumi gave it to her. It was quite beautiful, perfect as a display piece and her warrior instinct told her that it was also quite well crafted and would be a perfect weapon to fight with. Her intuition, though, told her that neither of those uses were the correct ones for the dagger. Izumi had told that when the time came that she would know what to do, but Usagi didn't want to wait till then and plus she wanted to know why she felt as if she was also being drawn to the dagger almost as if it was resonating with her soul.

However, when nothing came to mind after many minutes other than the onset of a headache, Usagi finally decided to wait till later. Maybe after she "got better" from being dead she would have more luck or maybe (and more likely she told herself) Rei or Ami might be able to figure something out. And so, Usagi slipped the dagger back into its sheath and fastened it to her ankle – hoping that with it attached as so to her body that she would not loose it.

Besides the dagger, there was one other mystery that Izumi left her with. That strange girl had also instructed her to make sure that she went to the Gate of Spacetime as soon as she regained her physical form. That it was imperative that she get there as soon as possible. While Izumi had been joking most of the time they had spent together, when Izumi spoke this she had been very serious. Usagi had no idea why she had to go to Pluto's domain, but whatever it was it was important enough that Izumi had come here explicitly to relay that message.

Yes, Usagi did realize that this was the true purpose of Izumi's visit and that her new friend had not just come looking for a playmate or to keep her company. And neither was the gift of that dagger the reason why Izumi came. No, she knew that Izumi's true purpose was to tell her about the need to travel to the forbidden gate. And once Izumi had told her about the gate, she became aware of a feeling of something being not quite right. Focusing on that sensation, she was also able after a little effort to discern that it was indeed the gate that was causing that feeling. She had no idea why she should be able to sense the gate's presence; it was something to ask Pluto about later.

Now as her eyes began to feel heavy once again, Usagi realized that her time of being awake was growing short. Lying herself down, Usagi slowly closed her eyes while wrapping her wings around her body. "Sleep well my muzume, both you ChibiUsa and you Hotaru. Stay safe and happy until I can return." And with those words and images of her two daughters in her mind, Usagi fell back into her dreamless slumber.

Back in the mortal realm as Usagi spoke those words, a sleeping ChibiUsa suddenly smiled and snuggled in deeper to her blankets. Elsewhere where she was camped out in the woods in a tent that was being buffeted by high winds and a pummeling rainstorm, Hotaru smiled as well and softly spoke the words "Arigato momma" in her sleep while the nightmares that had been plaguing her dreams that night vanished. When those two girls would awake the following morning, they would awake having slept the best that they ever had in a long time.

Watching all of this from the gate of Spacetime, Izumi smiled and said to herself, "Soon Kin of the Stars you will be reunited with your mother. In less than one cycle your trials will be over." Then turning to the stand-in gate guardian she gave him a slight bow of thanks while saying, "Arigato Kosh-san. I know that Usagi was unable to properly thank you for agreeing to watch the gate, given that she is for now forced to remain in her ChibiChibi form. But you are doing us all a great service."

With that said Izumi stood back up and stepped into the swirling mists of time and vanished to her destination. Watching the strange girl go, Kosh was once again left in solitude. He had long ago given up trying to divine what had brought him here or where here was. For a First One this was quite an unsettling experience; however, he had adapted. While this realm was quite devoid of much, what it did have was quite useful. The artifact that was once again the sole other occupant of this realm held a wealth of information, allowing him to continue his research. While the humans of this universe were obviously different than the humans of his own, there were enough similarities and in watching their history he was beginning to discover something – to find hope. For the longest time he had been convinced that the galaxy had been condemned to the infinite cycle of the deadly squabble of his race and the other caretaker race. But now in watching humanity struggle against its good and bad moments, he was starting to realize that maybe the third age of mankind had in fact arrived in his own universe and that he and the others were no longer needed.

-End Chapter

Author Notes:

11/07/06: And now with quotation marks. For some reason Word seems to think that quotation marks are office specific HTML and removed them when doing a filtered HTML save (ugh). But on the upshot I discovered that kword has a far better HMTL filter; though, guess I will have to change the way I mark scene breaks in my master document as those didn't export. But otherwise its XHTML export option produced nice clean code.

Well better late than never. Sorry for the extreme delay in getting this chapter posted, especially when I promised that it would be up shortly (had expected to post it in August). Unfortunatley life and then being sick during October got in the way. This chapter has not have been proofed by my prereader as school has been getting in his way, when he does get to this chapter I will post an updated version. But I don't expect much to change.

Like with many of my other chapters, there are cameos and references to other series that I enjoy hidden into this chapter as well as the last one. Kudos to those who recognize them.

I am in the process of updating my webpage and adding some new features to it, so over the next few weeks please stop by and take a look (might be a week or so before I finally finish getting it updated), but wait till at least tonight as right now many elements are broken :).


	7. Chapter 6: Falling Stars

**The Fragility of Time  
BOOK THREE: "Star Dust Memories"  
Chapter 6: "Falling Stars"  
** Author: etj4Eagle  
Email: etj4Eagle at yahoo (com)  
Webpage Geocities - etj4eagle  
First Posted to 02/13/07  
Last Edit: 02/13/07 (Version 2)

Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story, all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only so freely and inform me of where you post it.

As was normal during normal business hours, the train station was a beehive of activity with the various local, rapid, and shinkansen trains arriving as part of the evening rush. The current level of activity was nearly overwhelming for two children and one adult who had come to meet a relative. Being careful to stay out of the way so as to be not swept away by the crowd, Ikuko, ChibiUsa, and Diana were waiting outside of the paid fare zone for the arrival of Ikuko's sister. For ChibiUsa this was quite a new experience. She hadn't had the need to take the train yet during her current stay nor had she during her previous stay in the past, having only needed to get around the Juuban ward, and so had never been to one of Tokyo's train stations. And there was nothing quite like this in the now no longer existent future. Consequently, ChibiUsa was looking around wide eyed, taking in the sights, and was already planning on asking Naru if they could ride one of the shinkansen for her birthday.

Standing beside ChibiUsa, Ikuko was nervous about her sister's arrival. She had not slept well wondering how Misaki would take the news. She knew that she was being unreasonable with her fear. And after all if her daughter could come clean with her, then it should be no problem for her to come clean with her sister, but even still Ikuko was nervous. Seeing the blue hair of her sister, she shoved that fear away and instead cried out "Misaki!"

Hearing her sister's voice, Misaki looked up and waved. However, being still inside the paid fare area, she could not run over and give her sister a hug. Instead, she patiently waited her turn to pass through the exit gate. Though once her she was through, she began to quickly make her way over to Ikuko.

"It is good to see you again sis." Misaki said once she reached Ikuko. Putting down her bags, she embraced her sister. Then turning to look down at ChibiUsa, she added "And it is good to see you again too ChibiUsa-chan" before reaching down and pulling ChibiUsa into a bone crushing hug. Releasing ChibiUsa, Misaki looked around the platform for the rest of Ikuko's family and frowned slightly when she could find no sign of her niece or nephew.

"Shingo has a baseball game this afternoon" Ikuko said as she began to head off Misaki's unasked questions.

"Baseball? When did he get interested in baseball?"

"Just this year and I think it has more to do with his friends playing than anything more." Ikuko replied. "As for Usagi that is a more complicated explanation and it will have to wait to we get home."

"Oh?" Misaki asked, but did not press Ikuko having recognized the unspoken sadness in Ikuko's voice.

"Hai." Ikuko replied with her façade crumbling for a moment before she was able to pull things back together.

It was at this point that Misaki finally took notice that there was a second girl standing beside ChibiUsa. "And who is this ChibiUsa-chan? A friend of yours?"

"Konnichiwa Misaki-san, I am Diana and I am staying with the Tsukino family." Diana replied politely and with a slight bow. However, Misaki did not react other than to have an eye twitch.

Leaning down towards Diana, Ikuko whispered briefly into Diana's ear and Diana rephrased her greeting. "Konnichiwa Auntie Misaki."

This time Diana's greeting generated a reaction and with a cry of "Ooh, how cute!" Diana was swooped up into a bone crushing hug.

Seeing Diana swept up into one of Misaki's hugs, ChibiUsa smirked. However, her smirk was short lived as she soon found herself pulled into the hug as well while Misaki went on about there being two cute little children.

Noticing that her sister was beginning to draw some attention and that further Diana and ChibiUsa were starting to look a little blue in the face, Ikuko suggested "Misaki why don't we head on back to the house?" Thankfully for Ikuko, Misaki readily agreed to Ikuko suggestion forestalling any need for her to explain to any concerned police officers her sister's very affectionate reaction to anything cute.

* * *

Fighter stood on one of the trestles near the top of Tokyo tower. Looking out at the city below, which was lit by the early evening sun, she remarked to herself that the world looked so innocent. Yes it had its own problems, which her appraisal of the various media sources over the past few days had enlightened her to, but in the grand scheme of things those issues were minor and the world was for the moment safe and its people oblivious to the greater threats that raged across the galaxy. They weren't even fully aware of their Star Kin and the often contentious relationship between the guardians and the star system rulers had yet to establish itself on this planet. _ But for all of its innocence, this is just going to make its awakening to the true threat out there all the harder for the people of this planet to bear. This planet has done so well in recovering on its own from the loss of its guardian Silver Millennium so why does it have to become the focal point in the war? _ Fighter thought to herself

Feeling a pair of familiar bursts of energy, Fighter raised her head to the sky and smiled as she saw two shooting stars streak across the sky and past the horizon. "Maker, Healer." She whispered out. Turning to face the other horizon, she waited patiently for the two stars to encircle the planet as they decelerated. When they finally reappeared, they were no longer streaks of light across the heavens, but were definite points of energy angled towards Tokyo tower.

Arriving at the tower, the two stars reformed into Fighter's sisters. Excited and happy to see her sisters again, Fighter gave the two just arrived warriors no time to regain the bearings before she launched herself at them. She first glomped onto Maker, giving the oldest a crushing hug and nearly toppling the other Star Kin to the ground, before turning around and glomping onto Healer.

Watching as Fighter slowly began to release Healer, Maker smiled at her youngest sibling antics before saying, "Why am I not surprised that you are the one to find the hiding place of the Light of Hope for our princess."

"What do you mean?" Fighter innocently asked.

Giving a short chuckle, Healer said, "Only that you are the princess's favorite and the two of us know how much you yourself care for her as well, so it is only fitting that you would be the one to find this location."

"But…" Fighter began to say, planning on denying that she had any special feelings for the princesses and utterly sure that they were not reciprocated.

However, her retort was waved off by Maker. "There is no need for you deny anything. We don't love you any less and we are just happy that you can bring her the happiness that you do. Now why don't you start telling us what is so important about this world?"

"Yeah, while I am not surprised that the Light of Hope would be found on a backwater planet, I would think that something that powerful here would have been found a long time ago as if I remember my history lessons correctly, didn't this system once host Sailor Senshi?" Healer asked.

"Hai, it did and it now does so again." Fighter said.

"What!" Bother Healer and Maker shouted.

"But there are no colonies on any of the rocky planets or in orbit of the gas giants. They don't even have a colony on their own satellite yet. They just have some dinky tin can orbiting the planet." Maker said.

"I thought that thing felt like it had people in it when I passed it on insertion into the atmosphere, but was not sure." Healer said thinking of course about the MIR space station.

"Hai I know, but this planet does have Sailor Senshi on it. I have counted five of them plus an outsider. And in doing some research, there appears to have been at least one more, but she was apparently killed in a recent battle."

"There was a battle strong enough to kill one of us?" Healer asked with surprise, wondering what could have posed a threat to a Sailor Soldier on a backwater planet like this one.

"Hai, unfortunately the people here are only starting to realize that Star Kin walk amongst them and as such the records are fairly sketchy and lack any significant detail of the battles. But I was able to investigate the source of that battle and there is still a large amount of residual energy left. While the rest of the soldiers of this planet are quite weak, they do not appear to have been properly trained, this one that died had to have been quite strong from the mark that she left."

"You'll need to show us that location; there might be something there connected with the Light of Hope." Maker said. "So what were the princess's orders?'

"We are to locate the Light of Hope and protect it. And as a second objective we are to train the local Sailor Soldiers. She also said that all usual constraints on our actions are lifted that we are to do what ever we feel is necessary.

* * *

"So what is wrong with my niece that you are not telling me?" Misaki asked as she, Ikuko, Diana, and Luna entered the house.

Slipping off her shoes, Ikuko replied, "I am sure that you have heard some of the news reports about the Mugen incident."

"Hai I have." Misaki responded, wondering what that had to do with Usagi as she was sure that Usagi attended the local public school.

"Well Usagi was intimately involved in that incident. She saved us all with her actions, but at a terrible cost. Her injuries from that battle have left her in what is essentially a coma." Ikuko said. Describing to her sister even in the most general terms what had happened that day reopened the wound in her heart causing Ikuko to break down.

As soon as the first tears began to flow and Ikuko's chest began to shake, Misaki reached out and pulled her sister in against her body. Carefully guiding the distraught Ikuko into the living room, Misaki sat the two of them down on the couch. After Ikuko had began to regain some of her composure Misaki said, "Ikuko, I am so sorry to hear that. But why did you keep it this tragedy a secret? I would have come out here to help you through this if you had told me. I can't imagine the pain that you have been going through."

Now feeling some guilt for the hardship that had been placed onto her grandmother, ChibiUsa, who had followed the two grownups in the living room, spoke with a timid voice. "Ikuko-mama did not tell you because of who I and my mother are."

Looking up from Ikuko, Misaki regarded the young child who was looking very sheepish right now. "Demo, I don't understand? How does your mother's identify effect Usagi and what do you mean by who you are?"

Smiling a sad smile, ChibiUsa gathered what little courage she had at the moment and released her glamour spell – the only spell that she could still cast. "You see I am only half-human." ChibiUsa replied once she felt the spell dissipate.

Having been alerted that something was about to happen by the smile that ChibiUsa gave, Misaki had watched closely as the young girl's body shimmered for a moment. And as she watched, her eyes were instantly attracted to the child's forehead as a golden light seemed to break through for a moment before becoming an upturned crescent moon. Hearing ChibiUsa's words about being only half human, she wondered what the young girl meant by that and what connection this crescent moon, which she now noticed was overlaid on a very faint starburst background, might have to do with it.

Unable to control herself, Misaki reached out her right hand to stroke the mark with her thumb. As the logical part of mind would have expected, she did not feel anything special when she ran her thumb across the mark. But somehow the act in of itself allowed her to accept that maybe that this girl in front of her was only half human. Now moving her hand to lay gently on ChibiUsa' shoulder, she gazed into the girl's eyes, her eyes reflecting the endless multitude of questions that she did not know how to verbalize.

Feeling the warmth of Misaki's hand and absently registering that the hand was to give her comfort, ChibiUsa continued her explanation. "The mark you see on my forehead represents my birthright as the daughter of Neo-Queen Serenity and heir to the remains of the Moon Kingdom. My mother is of Lunarian descent, daughter of the last Queen of the Moon." Then pausing for a moment, ChibiUsa said the final part of her explanation with a cracking voice, "And you know her as Tsukino Usagi."

However, saying her mother's human name was too much for her and with the name said her composure fully crumbled. Staying at ChibiUsa's side through her explanation, Diana had been prepared for this collapse and as ChibiUsa's legs gave way, Diana pulled ChibiUsa in against her chest. Seemingly to wrap her body around ChibiUsa as she lowered the two of them to the floor, ChibiUsa ended up curled into a ball on top of Diana's chest. Focusing strictly on her charge, Diana held ChibiUsa tightly as she began to purr and softly rock the now sobbing ChibiUsa. This was something that she had gotten a lot of practice in those first weeks after Hotaru ran away. However, even with all of her practice, she knew she was not as good as Usagi or even Hotaru.

Thinking about Hotaru, Diana's mood darkened before she forced those thoughts away less ChibiUsa sense them and get more upset. While she intellectually understood that Hotaru was going through her own grieving, she couldn't help being upset with the other girl for breaking ChibiUsa's heart.

When ChibiUsa collapsed, Misaki was too stunned to do anything, something that she would later feel guilty about. But learning that your niece was not human, was the queen of some empire, and had a seven almost eight year old child was enough to stun anybody. And as hard as it was to believe what she had just learned for ChibiUsa and Ikuko, their reactions were all the proof that she needed. There was no way to fake that level of sorrow. Looking down at her sister and then at her niece she weakly asked "But how?" not expecting any answer given the current states of Ikuko and ChibiUsa.

As such she was completely taken by surprise when a strong female voice answered with, "Magic."

Turning to regard the owner of that voice, Misaki found a brunette haired girl who appeared to be about the same age as Usagi. Due to good timing, Makoto had just finished up with her tea preparations when ChibiUsa broke down and so was entering the living room with her tray just in time to take over the explanations.

Elaborating from her initial one word explanation, Makoto said, "The forces of magic are just as powerful as the ones currently known to science. With them, Queen Serenity of the Silver Millennium was able to send her daughter and protectors into the future to be reborn after the fall of her kingdom. Usagi is that reborn princess. The power of magic also allowed for ChibiUsa to travel into the past where she is now trapped." Pausing in her explanation to give Misaki time to absorb what she had just said, Makoto had trouble believing how eloquent she just was.

"As for how I know that this story is true; I am one of those protectors of Princess Serenity, now Tsukino Usagi." Then, summoning her transformation wand, Makoto called out "Jupiter Star Power Make-Up!"

"You… you're one of them." Misaki managed to get out as she tried to come to terms with what she was seeing in front of her.

"Hai, I, Kino Makoto, am actually the Sailor Senshi of the planet Jupiter."

As Misaki began to come to terms with what she had just been told and had just seen, her expression began to relax from the one of complete surprise that had accompanied Makoto's transformation. And once the initial shock had worn off, Misaki began to notice the various little elements of Jupiter's fuku. However, unlike Mizuno Rikou, she did not focus on whether or not the skirt was decent. No, Misaki quickly dismissed the skirt as just being decoration for what was essentially a standard leotard. Instead, she focused on the cute bows and jewelry. As she noticed these various elements, they were quickly adding up to one thing in her mind and with it a reaction that Jupiter was utterly unprepared for especially since it took some time to reach critical mass. When her thoughts did reach critical mass, Misaki practically launched herself across the gap to Jupiter, and performed what some might refer to as a perfect Chinese Amazon glomp while exclaiming "Kawaii."

One consequence of Misaki's sudden motion besides the toppling of Jupiter to the ground was that Ikuko who had been leaning on her sister fell off the couch. Hitting the ground, the impact knocked her out of her depression and allowed the healing she and Rei had gone through with each other to kick in. Her mind instinctively knowing what had happened, Ikuko lifted her head to look towards where Jupiter was flaying on the ground and couldn't help but to smirk at the scene. She just wished that she had her camera near by, but of course also knew that a picture like this could never be commercially developed.

Even though her sister's actions had resulted in her landing pretty hard on the ground – she had hit face first after all – she was in no ways upset with her sister. This was just par for the course with her sister and after having grown up with Misaki she had learned to live with her sister's eccentricities. By the time she had reached ChibiUsa's age she had experienced enough painful reunions with walls and floors courtesy of something cute and cuddly grabbing her sister's attention that being thrown into a row of lockers by a bully at school had not fazed her. Instead of breaking down into tears, she had simply stood up and complained to the aghast teacher – Ikuko's body had dented the lockers after all. There were some more pleasant upsides to her sister's eccentricities as well, as after her sister's abuse nothing that the opposing field hockey teams tried on the field worked to slow her down. She had been the star of her high school team each year that she played.

Ikuko cut short her reminiscing when she noticed that Jupiter had finally managed to escape from Misaki's glomp. That was not some meager feat, but Ikuko guessed that if anybody should be able to escape it would have to be the Sailor Senshi with their enhanced strength. Makoto had of course been warned by ChibiUsa about Misaki's way of greeting people, but Makoto had just thought that ChibiUsa was exaggerating as a way to hide her fear over being accused for what happened to Usagi. Plus adults also tended to greet children differently than adults and Makoto considered herself to be at least close enough to an adult to be greeted as such. Once she did manage to escape from Misaki's glomp, Makoto quickly reversed her henshin and made a mental note to be more careful around Misaki. She might not be a demon, but she could be just as dangerous with those glomps.

Backing a little bit away from Misaki, Makoto, a slightly sheepish look on her face, gave Misaki a low bow while saying, "Excuse me Auntie Misaki, but I must go check on dinner."

Letting the cute Sailor Senshi go, Misaki instead turned to regard her sister with an obvious question visible in her facial expression.

"Makoto is quite an accomplished cook. When she heard the time that your train was coming in, she insisted on fixing dinner for me so that I could go meet you at the station. Plus she figured her presence might make it easier for you to accept the situation with Usagi. Now I know how much you want to see Usagi, so why don't we go on upstairs and visit her."

Following Ikuko, Misaki asked, "Wouldn't Usagi be better off in a hospital. I am sure you are doing a good job carrying for her, but they would have more resources for taking care of a coma patient."

"Not in this case. You see, Usagi is not in a normal coma. From how Sailor Mercury described it, she is in a stasis crystal and as such there is nothing anyone can do for her. All we can do is wait until her soul has sufficiently healed that she wakes up. Plus if she was placed in a hospital it would be obvious that Usagi is not normal." Ikuko said as they walked up the stairs.

Entering into Usagi's room, the first thing that Misaki noticed were all of the roses spread around the room. Then walking up to Usagi's bed, she saw what her sister had meant by Usagi not being able benefit from the advance care available in a hospital, as she was fully enclosed in a giant crystal. Laying a hand on top of the crystal, Misaki looked down at Usagi who appeared to be sleeping peacefully. As she carefully examined her niece, the first thing she noticed was what Usagi was wearing or barely wearing as the case may be for a red ribbon loosely wrapped around her torso was the only thing that provided the girl with dignity. Letting her gaze travel up the girl's body, Misaki examined Usagi's forehead and found a faded starburst mark there. _ I guess that makes sense if the mark on __ChibiUsa__'s head is supposed to represent her birth right. But why is __ChibiUsa__ the only one to have a crescent moon as part of the mark? _ Misaki thought to herself before moving her examination on to Usagi's hair, like when Misaki had seen her last, Usagi's hair was still that stunning shade of silver – seeming to be made of moonlight. _ I guess that analogy is far more appropriate than I had realized. _ Misaki thought with a chuckle. Then following that silver hair down, she began to notice that some white feathers had been apparently encased in the crystal along with her niece. She was about to ask about the feathers when something else caught her eye.

"She has wings." Misaki gasped out as she broke away from her examination and turned to face Ikuko.

"Hai that she does. She has had them for quite a few months now. She got them the same time her hair returned to the silver of her previous life."

"But that would mean…" Misaki said

"Hai, she had them when she came to visit you. Normally she is able to pull her wings in and thereby go about her life normally out in the public. But actually when we were down visiting you she was ill, something about it not being good for her to be away from Tokyo, and after that first night her wings were out the entire time."

"That is why she was always wrapped up in a robe, blanket, or the like." Misaki said understanding coming to her.

"Hai, that was the best we could do at the time to hide them from you. Thankfully her wings are quite flexible. There would have been no way to have hidden them if it hadn't been for that flexibility, as they normally stick up to her head level when she has them folded at her back. As for why we are telling you this now. Usagi's condition has changed everything. There would be no way for you to avoid seeing the sadness carried in ChibiUsa' heart. And I couldn't let ChibiUsa feel that she was the one responsible for letting out the secret. I have already messed up with one of Usagi's daughters; I won't make the same mistake with ChibiUsa." Ikuko said, speaking that last sentence softly to herself. However, her words were still heard by Misaki.

Frowning as she heard the self-recrimination in her sister's voice. Misaki strode forward and pulled Ikuko in against herself. Then as she spoke some soft soothing words while telling her sister to let go of the grief, to let it all out, she directed the two of them towards an open space on Usagi's bed. She had a feeling that her niece would not mind sharing the bed with the two of them, especially considering the situation. When some minutes later, Ikuko had regained her composure, Misaki asked, "Now what is this about you failing another daughter of Usagi."

"Her name is Hotaru; she is about a year older than ChibiUsa. She is not biologically related to Usagi, but even so Usagi is now her adopted mother. One of Usagi's last actions was to adopt her." Ikuko replied.

"Why don't you tell me about this other grandniece of mine?" Misaki suggested.

* * *

When Ami finally finished up her homework for the evening it was quite late. Looking bleary eyed at the clock and seeing that it was showing that it was already the next day, Ami sighed. It would have had to have been yesterday that her history teacher would suddenly have assigned a long chapter to read with an essay to write for today as well. Unlike science and math, history was one subject in which it was quite difficult for her to get ahead of and there was no way to get any kind of head start on any of the homework. For both math and science, she already had the problems worked out for the next couple of chapters so on nights like tonight she would just have to copy them over for submission. But she couldn't really do that with history where there weren't any predefined text book problems to work out. That afternoon she had attended a progress review given by the team that was attempting to make headway into the information she had been able to get from the central computer regarding the armor that foot soldiers in the Silver Millennium wore.

At some point during the fall, one replica of the databanks had somehow been transferred to the Earth and were buried under what was now the Crown Video Arcade. These databanks which were accessible with her computer as well as from the command center contained an unbelievable wealth of information. Unfortunately, the utility of its knowledge was limited by its shear vastness coupled with her limited ability to find anything of importance in it. She suspected that nearly every iota of data generated during the Silver Millennium had been stored in the database; she had at one point even found a scanned image of a drawing she had apparently drawn when she was three years old when she had been looking for information on the Moon Princess. That picture now sat in a frame on her mom's desk at work – her mother of course, unlike Ami, did not see the query that had found that picture as a failure.

Due to the amount of data contained in the database it was impossible to find anything without constructing search queries. A team of librarians could spend centuries reading articles one by one and only scratch the surface of what the database contained. Unfortunately, with her still very faint grasp of the technology and magic of the Silver Millennium combined her tentative ability to translate written Japanese into the languages of the Silver Millennium, constructing those searches was always quite a challenge, especially since the more pertinent documents always seemed to contain only the highly technical jargon and not the simpler terms that she was more familiar with using. And even when she did find something that might be of use, those documents tended to range from being a couple hundred to a few thousand pages long. And of course, she never had the time to review those documents properly, starting with the basics and moving up to the more complex subjects; instead, she generally had to quickly pinpoint the relevant paragraphs and try to make use of the advance magical theory described without the necessary educational framework.

Just figuring out how to make their new communicators had been a small miracle. The one element that had saved her there was that there already existed a basic communicator design for a watch type communicator, which only took her half a week to find. Modifying that basic design to be able to broadcast on the various scrambled and unscrambled military channels, thankfully, only required loading in new software as she had lucked out in finding a communicator that was able to use electromagnetic frequencies. Not that writing the new module was without its headaches; after all magic based computer languages had their own paradigms in addition to the usual need to learn new syntax.

As such, it was not surprising that the meeting had run long as the research team had eagerly presented all that they had learned, not that any of it was near useful yet. And that long presentation had pushed back her homework time, but she was now finally done. Slipping her homework into its folder, Ami added it to her bag along with the text book. Then walking over to her dresser, she picked up her night shirt and headed out into the wall to wash up. When she returned a little while later, dressed for bed, she readily climbed in under the covers and was asleep within but a few moments.

* * *

As Ami dreamed, it was not long before she found herself once again beside the mountain lake. Smiling as she breathed in the air, she walked down to the lake. Stopping by its edge, she reached a hand in and felt the frigid water. Then standing back up with another smile on her face, she turned and walked a couple paces away from the lake. While for any normal person the water temperature was too cold for swimming, for Ami the purity of the water meant that her body did not care how cold it was. Undoing the buttons on her blouse, she slipped it off while also kicking the shoes off her feet, the rest of her clothing quickly following suit.

While awake, just the mere thought of skinny dipping would have caused Ami to blush like crazy. But here in her dream world, her mind raised no objections. Returning to the water's edge, this time she walked right in and once she was waist deep she launched herself out towards the center of the lake with strong powerful and graceful strokes.

Seated on his usual rock outcropping, Youko had watched as Ami appeared in this dream world as a result of his call. She of course did not realize the reason why she had appeared back here at the lake and Youko chose to spend a few minutes just observing the one he had bounded his fate to. He was not at all surprised when she entered the lake soon after her arrival. With the power of Mercury flowing through her blood, the call of the body of water would have been hard for her to resist. And here in the dream realm where the mind was at ease and normal inhibitions faded away, the draw would be even more pronounced.

When he decided that she had had enough playtime, he stood up and made his way down to the edge of the lake. Reaching the edge of the water, he took a hold of some of the energy he had built up over the past weeks and used it to take on a demonic human form. While this was going to setback his healing, it was worth it, especially since he had no desire to actually win this little game he was playing with the child.

The human form that he took was similar in size to Ami with many similarities, which was not surprising given that her body was providing the template for the transformation. While there was his original demonic human form that form would require more energy to assume and would be less successful in making the point that he wanted. The main differences between this human form Youko and a male Ami were that he still had vulpine ears, that he had long silver-blue hair that hung midway down his back, instead of nails he had claws, and of course he still had a tail. In assuming this form, a ghostly-blue loose fitting tunic set had appeared on his body while his feet remained bare and a silver symbol for Mercury adorned his forehead. The fur of his tail was the same shade as that of his hair; but unfortunately for his pride, he still had only one tail.

Dipping a foot into the water, he found the temperature to be quite pleasing, something that he had not expected. _ Must be my connection to the child that makes this water so pleasing to this body. _ he thought before stepped fully into the water. Continuing to wade out, he located Ami and then once he was deep enough he took off swimming.

"So have you decided to surrender child?" he asked after switching over to a side stroke when he finally caught up with Ami.

"Huh?" Ami mumbled not having expected anyone to be out here. Then turning to regard the owner of the voice her eyes widen in surprise. "Youko?" she asked.

"Hai, I thought I might try out your body to see how it feels, especially since you appear to have no desire to fight me. You know if you don't want to fight, we can just shorten everything and you can surrender your soul to me now." Youko said as he swam closer and grabbed a hold of Ami's body and pulled her backwards towards his body.

Ami was confused by his words for a few moments, which is what allowed him to catch her. But as his arm finished snaking around her lower chest, she remembered her deal with the demon and what he had vowed to do. Remembering the threat he posed, she cried, "Iie!" and attempted to force her way out of his arm.

Her efforts did result in turning herself around but she was prevented from fully escaping by his bringing a second arm around her body. Pulling her back in tight, he removed one of his hands from her back and used it to tilt her head back so that he could look into her eyes. "You have been neglecting your practice. It would be so easy right now to crush your free will and make you my slave. You're too valuable to kill with your ability to summon the power of your protector. But keeping your soul trapped here in the corner of your mind and taking full possession of your body would be just right. You are just lucky that I am too weak to take on even someone as open as you are right now."

As he had been saying this, Youko had been swimming the two of them towards the shore. Reaching the shore, he moved the hand that he had been using to tilt her head back to wrap around her bottom, providing a hold by which he was able to raise her out of the water as he stood up. Now removed from the blanket of the water, Ami suddenly felt self-conscious of her lack of dress. But as much as she wanted to get away from Youko, she found that her body no longer had any fight left in it. While her mind was screaming at her body to move and to get away from the demon, her body was not listening and was even allowing itself to be placed into a position that made it easier for Youko to carry her.

Walking over to his rock, Youko appeared to pay no attention to Ami's growing embarrassment with her nudity. Setting her down on the rock, he once again caressed her face with a touch that both pulled Ami's body to him at the same time that it repulsed her soul. Looking down into her wide and fearful eyes, he grinned, unable to help himself from enjoying the pleasure that having this power over of her brought him. For a moment he was tempted to escalate his actions and feed off of her fear, but he clamped down on that demonic instinct and instead spoke to Ami.

"Little one, look at me. This form of mine is a merging of your body and mine. That I am already able to take this here in the dream world shows how much I have already won. I chose you as my victim because I thought you were going to be a challenge. I hope that I was not mistaken. But even if I was, I am becoming quite attached to this body and I may just move up the time table for full possession."

Then stepping forward and once again placed a hand along Ami's face. He rested the hand there for but a moment before he flicked it and instead rested the tip of one of his claws at the top of her cheek. Slowly running that claw downward, drawing a faint line of blood, he said "And your inability to control your own body here in your dream plane is another indication of how much you have failed." As he spoke, he drew a line of blood down along Ami's side and down to her thigh before curving the cut so that he finished with his hand resting on top of Ami's knee. Adjusting how he held his hand so that it now rested more softly on Ami's knee, Youko ended by saying, "I trust that you won't make this same mistake again."

* * *

"Princess Usagi Lady Serenity." A voice called out over the night wind.

Following the voice that was calling her name, ChibiUsa, dressed in her pajamas, ran barefoot along the center of one of the downtown streets. With her steps falling along the median line she called out in response, "Who's there."

Receiving no response to her question, she continued to run, following the voice calling her name. And then from one moment to the next she found herself deep in a forest. Her bare feet now landing on the sparse underbrush grass, ChibiUsa slowed her pace as she caught site of a beautiful white horse. Slowing to slow walk, she exited from the thick woods into a clearing around a lake. Looking more closely at the horse, she saw that like her mom it had wings. _ Pegasus _ her mind supplied a few moments later from the stories that her parents used to read to her before bed.

The Pegasus stood there unconcerned as ChibiUsa approached, it seeming to be almost happy to see the young girl. When ChibiUsa was but a couple of steps from it, the Pegasus lowered its neck, bringing its head down to ChibiUsa's level. Reaching out a tentative hand, ChibiUsa whispered "beautiful" as she stroked the creature's snout. Unnoticed by ChibiUsa as she touched the creature, golden energy moved down her arm and through her body changing her outfit to that of one of her former princess gowns.

"Young maiden I am glad that we can finally meet." Helios said to the young princess.

Pulling back her hand, ChibiUsa looked up at the Pegasus and asked "Who are you?"

"A friend. But you must not tell anyone about our meeting." Helios replied. "I know you have many questions, but they will have to wait."

As Helios mentioned that the questions would have to wait, ChibiUsa noticed that forest around the lake was beginning to fade away into nothingness. Then looking back at the Pegasus, she noticed for the first time that it could also be termed a unicorn due to the golden horn on its head.

"Sleep well you highness. I will guard your dreams until you mother is able to do so again." Helios said as the last elements of the dream world faded from view and ChibiUsa fell back into a deep slumber. As for Helios, now that he had made contact with the conscious mind of his sanctuary, his own soul was eased and he allowed his consciousness to fade into the recesses of ChibiUsa's dreams.

* * *

When her alarm clock began to play a local news station, Ami slowly opened her eyes. As she expected from the time that she had turned in the previous night, she found it hard to wake up. But persevere she did and even with her eyes threatening to close again, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and got up. Walking over to her light switch, she turned on the room lights and with the extra illumination finally found her body starting to wake up.

Heading back to an open area on her floor, she began to perform some stretches, knowing that getting blood flowing was the most important thing to help wake herself up and to make sure that she was functional for her morning classes. But as she began her first stretch, a sharp pain in her left side halted her stretch. Confused as to why pain was radiating all the way down her side, Ami reached over to her to her side with her gaze following. Putting her hand on the side of her chest, her eyes shot open when she saw the crusted blood stain in her night shirt.

Panic starting to build, Ami quickly made her way from her room to the bathroom. In there she stripped off her night shirt and grabbing a washcloth she began to examine the cut along her side, using the rag to rinse off the dried blood. By the time she had finished cleaning the cut, her panic had begun to subside somewhat with her realization that the cut was closed, but there was still the issue of how she had gotten the cut. It had been a couple of days since the last demon attack and with it another appearance of that mysterious Sailor Senshi, so this wound could not have been from that. Tracing the scab again, she began to remember her dream from the previous night.

"But how can that be?" Ami softly asked herself. "Is this another warning from Youko, a physical reminder to prevent me from forgetting?"

Letting herself fall to the ground, Ami's mind replayed the scene in the dream realm and how helpless she had been. What worried her the most was how part of her body had actually welcomed the control that Youko had over her and wanted to give herself fully to him. It was the same part of her soul that wanted to give up and fade away when Usagi had been taken from them. Tracing the scab again, Ami realized that she could not let anyone else know about this cut. The cut was a symbol of her own shame and she did not want to anyone else to know how close she had come to losing nor of the pact that she had made with a demon. Thankfully, while it was summer she tended to dress relatively conservatively and so it would not be a problem to hide the cut and without being able to henshin even that problem was taken care of.

_ However, even if I am to bear this mark of shame in solitude, I cannot redeem myself alone. It is time that I resumed my lessons with __Rei__. _ Ami thought to herself as she gathered up her soiled night shirt. Thankfully her mom was working the early morning shift and so was not home yet and so she would not have to worry about her mom seeing her cleaning the night shirt. After cleaning the blood off her night shirt as well as her sheets, she packed some bandages and breams to take a long to school in case any of her scabs opened.

* * *

Giving Haruka a kiss, Michiru collected her bag and violin case and stepped out of the car. Closing the car door, she watched as Haruka proceeded to speed away, weaving her way into the flow of traffic with but a moment's hesitation. For not the first time, Michiru wondered how Haruka managed to avoid finding herself in jail over her driving habits. While Michiru felt perfectly safe riding with Haruka in that yellow sports car, she had the advantage of knowing that Haruka was an experienced race car driver and as such driving like this was not reckless for her. But Michiru doubted that any traffic cop would be willing to accept that as a valid excuse for the gross disregard for the rules of the road.

Once Haruka' car had vanished from view, Michiru turned back to the building that she had been dropped off at. Walking on up to the front door she wondered what her sensei, Albert George-Schram, would have her work on today. He was a bit of a character and always found a way to bring a smile to her face no matter how she down she might feel and as such she always looked quite forward to her lessons. He had only been her instructor for a little over a year now and Michiru had no illusion that she would have the honor of being his student for too much longer. Instructing her in the way of the violin was his way in taking a sabbatical in his long and distinguished conducting career that had taken him all over the world. Though, unlike the normal method of taking a sabbatical, he only reduced the amount of conducting he did, still traveling to the US and other locations to conduct summer concert series – particularly those for children and his sabbatical also had lasted for a number of years already.

As her thoughts focused on her sensei, her feet followed the well known path along the hall to her practice room. She was just turning the final corner to her room when she came on her sensei.

"Good afternoon Kaioh-san" George-Schram said in greeting.

"Good afternoon to you too, sensei." Michiru replied with a slight bow as waited for her sensei to reach the corner as well before falling in step behind him.

Michiru was quite thankful for the quirk of fate that resulted in him taking a sabbatical in Japan to teach the violin to high school students. She was sure that he was personally responsible for how well her talent had developed in the past year and that her ability would have been a pale shade of what it currently was if it were not for him. As strange as his desire to suddenly teach the violin was, her becoming his student was another quirk of fate. A few years ago she was like any other kid her age learning to play the violin. She was fairly decent having played it from a young age, but she also was no where near the best in her class at school either. But he had seen something at her school recital, something that had him talking about her potential and the emotion and energy that was just below her surface. He had quickly convinced her parents that she would benefit from private lessons, a decision which they had not regretted one bit.

At the time she had not understood what he had meant, but now a year later she had no trouble understanding his meaning. The song that she had ended up playing the night that Pluto had awoken her and Haruka to their destiny was what he had been talking about. She did not know if any of the others felt the same way she did, but since her awakening it felt as if a shackle that had been unknowingly present on her soul had been removed – letting her soul finally take flight. She knew that her sensei had noticed from his comments on how her talent had really begun to blossom in the half year. _ Correct that, I know __Usagi__ has felt that way. While maybe not at first from the stories the others tell, but certainly once she accepted her destiny with the arrival of her daughter she has been freed of her previous shackling. _ Michiru thought to herself.

Noticing the expressions crossing Michiru's face as she began to unpack her violin, George-Schram said, "You looked troubled in your thoughts Kaioh-san, I hope nothing is threatening to cloud that fine music that you can produce."

"Iie, sensei. I was just thinking for a moment about how much more free my music feels these past months." Michiru replied.

"Yes, your music has truly become majestic. There is an indescribable quality to it now, far more profound than what I had thought that you had hidden in you." George-Schram said with a smile. Then after pausing for a moment, he continued with, "There is another student who is also quite skilled with the violin. Like you, he has been practicing since an early age and has a way of really bringing out the spirit of the music. His instructor is an old colleague of mine and recently invited me to attend one of his lessons. If you are so inclined, I think the two of you would be very well suited for performing a duet together."

Pausing before lifting her violin up to her shoulder, Michiru replied, "I would be honored Sensei."

"And I was thinking that instead of being traditional and working from a set piece that the two of you could instead improvise and play from your hearts. The other student, Saotome is quite skilled in the improvising and I really enjoy the music that you play from your heart. You really should think about writing it down or at least playing with a tape recorder so that someone else could transcribe it." Michiru's sensei said referring to the various times she had unconsciously shifted from following the sheet music to playing a melody from the Silver Millennium. He never criticized her when she made those deviations, for he quite enjoyed the heart and soul she brought to life in those melodies.

"Hai." Michiru replied nervously now that she realized that she was no longer going to be just playing but also essentially composing their duet as well.

"Don't worry Kaioh-san; you'll do fine." George-Schram said as he placed a hand on Michiru's shoulder. "Now why don't we pick up where we left off last time with the third movement?" he suggested, getting the lesson started. And with that Michiru's violin once again began producing its wonderful music.

* * *

Watching the petite girl on the practice range, the sergeant had to admit that she was quite skilled. He found it hard to believe that until recently that she had never held a rifle given that she was already at a sharp shooter skill level. By the US NRA standards she would be qualified at the Bar 2 level prone and basic sharpshooter standing. What was even more amazing for the sergeant was how she was able to achieve this mastery with so little practice. While this practice range was inside of the research facility (some one had gotten a little greedy when they learned that volume of the facility was going to be magically expanded), Ami with the rest of her duties only was only able to spend an hour a couple days a week practicing. Sergeant Morisato understood those reasons; though, he still wished he could run her through a proper weapons' training regime. He was sure that she had the innate talent needed to be a sniper.

His initial impression of Ami, though, had been quite different. That first day she had nervously walked into his range she had barely been able to hit the target. That day had been a big disappointment for the two of them – Ami for feeling like she was failing yet again and for Morisato for having expected too much. He had heard the stories from some of the soldiers that had been deployed to stop the demonic Energizer Bunny of what this young junior high child had done. But when she had come onto his range, Ami had been just like any other raw recruit and not an experienced marksman. However, over the subsequent sessions with his readjustment expectations and working with her like any other novice he quickly found her exceeding his expectations.

Noticing that Ami had placed her rifle down on the ground and stepped back away from the firing line thereby indicating she was finished, Morisato walked over. Walking up to the firearm, he knelt down to verify that it was clear. With that confirmed, he stood back up and activated retrieval of her target before removing his ear protection. Slipping her target off of the hook he examined her shot placement. _ She really is a natural. _ Morisato thought as he concluded that she had aced this target. For the soldiers tasked with going up against demons a special series of targets had been commissioned – ones in which target points were in non-traditional locations and where the shots were required to be divided up amongst 3-5 target points for every 5 shots. And then as a further challenge there was a time limit.

Looking up form the target and over at Ami, Morisato said, "Mercury-san very good job. Each of your shots fell within the nine rings."

"Arigato Morisato-sensei. You're a great instructor" Ami replied with a bow.

"It's not so much my instructing ability but your innate skill. If all of the soldiers were as good as you, I would be out of a job." Morisato replied to a blushing Ami.

"Demo, I'm not that good. I couldn't even hit the target that first time." Ami replied.

"That's to be expected you were nervous and you were using your head too much. Your body has been a quick study and now that we have you listening to your instincts and not your head you are a natural."

Ami had no chance to ponder that comment when her communicator began to emit a very loud high pitched tone, the kind that was obviously an alarm. Instantly realizing what that particular alarm meant, Ami's eyes widened in horror. Retrieving her computer from her subspace pocket, Ami prayed that one of the communicators was just malfunctioning. There was only one event that could trigger this particular alarm, an alarm that was designed to override any silent running settings for the untransformed Sailor Senshi – a communicator going offline. In of itself a communicator going offline was not a real problem; instead, it was what it meant for the wearer. Given how robust the communicators were, Ami did not want to think of how badly hurt one of her friends would have to be for the communicator to fail.

With her computer now open and commanded to query the status of the communicators, Ami whispered one word when the ping results returned with one non-responding node, "ChibiUsa."

* * *

Sitting on the back of a beat up flatbed truck, Hotaru watched the scenery fly by. As much as she had enjoyed the beauty of hiking across China and then Mongolia, she also appreciated being able to hitch a ride that was going their direction. For the first few months, her guilt prevented her from accepting any easy form of transportation. But eventually the need to rest as well as realizing that the only way that they were going to make it to their destination in time won her over. And now that she was more at peace with who she was and what had happened she was able to truly able to enjoy these rest breaks.

Looking down at the battered map that she held in her hands, she traced the line that they had traveled – or the line as best as Luna could figure it. Examining the map for a bit and locating some of the recent land marks they had passed, Hotaru saw that they were a few hours from the next city on their route – Almaty, Kazakhstan. Until a couple of weeks ago, the route they had been dutifully following was based on the faint energy that Hotaru was able to sense and had been nearly dead west from where they had landed on the main land. A fortnight ago after they had set up camp for the evening, Luna had gotten out the maps she had bought before they left and was looking over the upcoming terrain.

Even though she did not know their path exactly and they had no idea where the trace would lead them next, Luna still wanted to project their current path forward so as to have some idea of what they might be coming upon. During the first months of their travel, she only needed to do this infrequently, but now with their frequent hitch hiking, she found herself needing to update her projections every few days. When Luna did her projections that evening a fortnight ago, she had noticed that their path was angling back to the south. Projecting that route forward towards the Mediterranean Sea, she had read off the names of the various countries they would cross and as she did so, some their names raised alarm bells in her mind. It had taken her most of dinner before she placed why she had a nagging feeling that they should avoid the countries of the Middle East, finally having remembered some of the reports that had been broadcast while Ikuko or Kenji had been watching TV. Thankfully, while Hotaru was ignorant of the happenings in that part of the world, Luna had been able to convince her why a pair of girls traveling alone should avoid that part of the world.

The one sticking part in convincing Hotaru had of course been Hotaru's reluctance to deviate from the path that was being laid out in front of them and a part of Hotaru's psyche also still looked trials and tribulations for her journey as being divine judgment. After convincing Hotaru that going through the Middle East was not some sort of punishment for what happened to Usagi, Luna was able to work on convincing Hotaru that they could afford the detour. Furthermore, she had given the promise that they would return to the original path if the energy Hotaru was feeling faded too much. This, and the fact that they were now making quite good time, convinced the young girl.

While Hotaru was tracing their path along the map, Luna was gazing forward watching the approaching landscape. Once again, it appeared that the two of them had lucked out, finding a friendly person to give them a lift. Even though Luna had never explicitly been told that hitchhiking was dangerous, she instinctively understood the implied danger and each time a vehicle rolled to a stop in offer of a lift, she mentally crossed her fingers. And while they still hitchhiked, that did not mean she did not take precautions, only allowing the two of them to ride on the back of open vehicles, wanting the ability to make a quick getaway if necessary.

Her unease was raised not just with each new hitchhike but any time that they came across others during their journey, as they were after all just a pair of young girls all by themselves. Her biggest fear was either that they would be overwhelmed by a large number of attackers and Hotaru taken down before she could let her warrior instincts take over or that Hotaru would be forced to kill. The second option actually worried her more as with the first option they would probably just be abducted and she had faith in Hotaru's abilities as Sailor Saturn, but Hotaru's heart was still too fragile. While Hotaru was hiding it, she knew that the young girl still had qualms about what had happened with the warlord and that it was weighing heavily on her heart. Thankfully, so far the number of times they had been attacked could be counted on just one hand, each of them having occurred in or near a town and each of those times it had been someone just looking to rob them. And Hotaru had been able to chase away the would be robbers by either just summoning her glaive or in one case sparing with them for a few moments. Attacking two unarmed girls was one thing, but when one suddenly had a very nasty looking weapon and could move like the wind things were different.

Having finished tracing the path and examining the map for Kazakhstan, Hotaru carefully folded up the map and returned it her pack. As she did so, on an impulse she decided to pull out the map for Europe as they after all still had a fair bit of traveling on this road before their ride would end. Unfolding the map before her, she held her finger above the map and tried to impishly divine their final destination. This had of late become a new game for her to play while they were hitchhiking. She of course knew that there was no way she that was going to know where they were going to be going from this but it was still fun. Dropping her finger down onto the map, she looked at where her finger had landed and read the name of the nearby city – Frankfurt.

Some of her social studies classes at school had discussed the history, art, and unique architecture of the various cities of Europe. The classes had just barely touched on the cities, given the age of the children, and had been primarily geared to firing up the imagination and enthusiasm of the kids, succeeding quite nicely with Hotaru. Hotaru had gotten all fired up some months back when she realized that because of this trip that she was going to actually get to see those cities. However, that enthusiasm was tempered somewhat when she realized that the she would not be able to see Moscow, as the pictures of the buildings in that city had always grabbed her imagination. Her thoughts now turning to those cities, Hotaru began to imagine herself in those cities and thought about the souvenirs that she would need to pick up for ChibiUsa.

Turning her gaze away from road ahead, Luna adjusted her position so that she was no leaning against the side of the truck. Now looking over at Hotaru as the young girl examined the map of Europe, Luna thought, _ She looks so cute like that. I should have gotten her a compass to play with. _ As she thought that Luna decided that what Hotaru could really use was some surveying equipment like the explorers of the old days used, as she figured that Hotaru probably would have really enjoyed being able to play explorer during their trek. _ Unfortunately, we need to conserve our limited funds as much as possible. While out here in the wilderness finding food to eat along the trail has been okay, if not the most pleasant, when we find ourselves in civilization we will be forced to buy. But at least I did get her that diary, which she has been writing in a fair bit. _ The diary for Hotaru, the camera with film for herself, as well as some supplies for writing home were the limit to the nonessentials that Luna had brought with them on this trip. That diary got little use before they reached the Great Wall but since then it had seen substantial use and while Luna did not pry into what Hotaru was writing she saw glimpses of what at least appeared to be sketches of parts of their journey.

"CHIBIUSA-CHAN!" Hotaru suddenly screamed out in terror, instantly grabbing Luna's undivided attention.

Instinctively rolling into a crouch as she shifted into hunter mode, Luna looked over at Hotaru and noticed that the younger girl had reverted to her Sailor Fuku with Silence Glaive in hand. Wondering where the enemy was, Luna regarded Hotaru more closely so as to see where the other girl was looking. However, as she did so, she saw that Hotaru's gaze was not focused on anything. Confused, Luna began to take in Hotaru's posture, now realizing that the young warrior did not show any signs of expecting any kind of attack.

"Hotaru-chan what is it?" a confused Luna asked.

"ChibiUsa, she is in danger. I should never have left." Hotaru replied, guilt in her voice.

"You can't be sure of that and even if there is a battle the others are all there." Luna said trying to reassure Hotaru.

"Iie, they are not. ChibiUsa, she has been badly hurt. It's my fault for not being there, for her, to protect her like I am supposed to do."

Knowing that she needed to do something quickly to calm Hotaru down before the young warrior did something rash, Luna asked, "How do you know that ChibiUsa is in danger?"

Turning to regard Luna, Hotaru lowered her glaive as she placed a hand over her heart and said, "I can feel it here in my heart. The two of us are connected. Since we have met, I always know when she in danger. Like the queen has her prince to protect her, the princess has me."

"Saturn?" Luna hesitantly asked, realizing that she was no longer exactly speaking to Hotaru anymore.

Sailor Saturn simply smiled in response to Luna's question before continuing. "Hotaru-chan and her imouto may not share the same type of love that their mother and father share for each other, but it is just as powerful."

"Demo…" Luna began trying to puzzle through what the power of Saturn was telling her while another part of her mind was trying to work out what it meant that there was this dichotomy in Hotaru's spirit that allowed the planetary power to act as a separate personality.

Sailor Saturn did not react to Luna's unspoken statement; instead, she just turned her head to gaze back to the east. She could feel the human half of her soul struggling with all of her might to return to the one that she loved more than anything else. If it were not for the task that the guardian of the Golden Crystal of the Earth had set out for her, she would have released control over the teleportation magic to Hotaru. Thankfully for Luna, Sailor Saturn knew that the Messiah of Silence had to initiate the process to awaken the final star of the system, if they were save her other half – the Messiah of Light. But even still, Saturn like her sisters could not turn a blind eye to the cries of the human half of her soul. Love might not have the same meaning for her, but she still felt love and she wanted to feel all that love was. That left only one thing for her to do then.

Waves of violet and black energy began to build around Sailor Saturn as she firmly grasped a hold of her glaive holding it in front of her body with its butt end on the ground. Around her the sky darkened into twilight as the tendrils of energy multiplied becoming more of a thick fog. The driver of the truck turned on his headlights as he began to say prayers utterly spooked by what was going on and thankfully not realizing that one of his passengers was the cause.

Watching the building of energy, Luna did not know that to do. The power available to Hotaru as the Soldier of Silence was frightening in its enormity and only the fact that she knew that Usagi had also wielded such levels of power kept Luna from freaking out. Still, the chilling effect that the use of that power caused was giving Luna quite a challenge in remaining calm. She could only hope that Hotaru was not about to do something too reckless. She took a little measure in the fact that the guardian planet had made its presence known, but she was not really sure if that was all in all really a good thing, Saturn's grief being what had obliterated the remains of the Silver Millennium from the solar system

Hotaru was of course unaware of the maelstrom that her emotions were causing, thinking instead only about ChibiUsa and all of the times that she had seen her friend hurt. Now for the first time, the gaps in her memory that existed whenever the power of Saturn had acted independently broke and Hotaru saw how she had responded each of those times. That knowledge of how she had protected the star that drew her own provided warmth to Hotaru's heart and boosted the flow of energy from her star to even higher levels. With that final boost, the tendrils of energy that were slipping around her body like a blanket finished plunging an area 25 kilometers in radius to darkness beyond that of the blackest pitch. Not even the headlights of the truck they were riding on could provide any illumination through that darkness for those final few moments that the engine continued to live before sputtering out, followed soon thereafter by the truck's battery.

As the truck coasted to a stop at the side of the road, the only thing that Hotaru could think of was saving ChibiUsa's broken body and then with the whispered words of "Saturn Eternal Power Make-Up." she passed out. As those words left her lips and her eyes fell closed, the energy that had been building around her imploded from the surrounding country side into a pillar of brilliant violet energy and then after a few moments that pillar too imploded down into a single point of energy that was located just above the center of the bow on the front of her fuku, leaving behind a handful of black feathers that slowly fell to the ground.

With that collapse of energy, Hotaru fell unconscious and as she began to slip down and away, that point of light grew a little bit into a baseball sized orb of pulsing energy. Then as Hotaru's body came to a stop, the orb began to shimmer as its shape changed to that have a butterfly. This butterfly had a wing pattern that fluctuated in tune with its being composed of pure energy and with colors that favored the various shades of violet. Flapping its wings, the butterfly took a few moments to get its bearings before taking off into the now once again sunny sky heading east.

Crawling over to Hotaru, Luna pulled the unconscious girl into her lap while absently noticing that Hotaru was no longer wearing her fuku.

"Are you two girls okay?" A gruff man said from beside the truck, the driver having decided to get out and to check on his passengers now that the strange darkness was gone.

"Yes." Luna replied shakily, conveying in her tone that she meant more of "I think so" than a definite yes. Then pointing to Hotaru, she said "Passed out, demo Okay." And while she had a word of Japanese thrown in with that last statement, her meaning was clear.

"I am glad to hear that. I have no idea what that was, gives me the willies just thinking about it. It is a good thing you two found me on the road, I would hate for the two of you to have experienced that out by yourselves."

"Hai. Glad over." Luna replied before turning her attention back to the unconscious Hotaru she began to speak in Japanese to the unconscious girl. "What have you done little firefly. I really wish Usagi was here. She would be much better suited with helping you to understand your powers. Each time you do something like this you frighten me. Not out of fear of you doing something wrong, but fear in that you might lose yourself or even if you don't go that far that your scars will be beyond my capabilities.

"I now know that you meeting up with Usagi and ChibiUsa could not have been coincidence. I remember when ChibiUsa first showed up, she had a letter from Usagi's future self telling her that she would make a special friend. I am sure that her majesty was referring to you and specifically sent ChibiUsa back so that the two of them could befriend you and help you learn to use your powers.

"I just did not realize how much of a connection you had with ChibiUsa. I should have known, though. But your little stunt here has enlightened me. I know you are going to be terribly worried about ChibiUsa and while it will delay our journey we will stay in this city long enough for me to send a letter home and for us to get a response. I don't know how we will be able to receive a response, but I promise you this that I will find a way for us to hear word about ChibiUsa's condition."

* * *

Naru was examining one of the park's flower arrangements when a well dressed gentleman came up beside her.

"Excuse me miss but I couldn't help but notice you enjoying these flowers. I am not very surprised as they seem to suit you very well."

Blushing slightly at that comment, Naru looked up at the other man and replied, "Hai, I do like this variety quite a bit, but I am not sure if they are my favorites. There are so many different styles here and it's the combination of all of them that I really like."

"You truly are a maiden of the flowers then." The man said as he grasped her hands while pulling her in so that they were standing practically chest to chest. "To have such an appreciation of such fine things, you must have really beautiful dreams."

Starting to get a little disturbed by the way this man was acting, Naru tried to look for a way to extract herself. But before she could find anything that she could use as a distraction, the man continued.

"While I am not much a believer in love at first sight, I can not deny what I am feeling now. The purity of your dreams is calling to me…"

Naru had no illusion that she would be able to overpower this creep if things developed into a fight and with no one in the vicinity she was fearful of doing anything that might set him off. However, even with that said, she was starting to feel that she had no choice. _ If only __Usagi__ were here. She would know what to do. _ Naru thought to herself. And even if her silver haired friend did not know what to do, Naru knew she would just feel safer with her friend present.

Following that thought as a means of distancing herself from what was happening, Naru realized that even when they were just little girls that Usagi's presence always made her feel safer. Her friend might have been a cry baby and utterly afraid of thunderstorms, but she never abandoned her. When middle school bullies a few years older had picked on them, Usagi with legs trembling had stood up to them even though each previous time she had stood up for Naru she had ended up with her long hair tied up around the school's flagpole. Internally smiling at those images, Naru realized for the first time how much being a Sailor Senshi was ingrained into Usagi's being. Unfortunately, while thinking about Usagi distracted her from the pervert in front of her it did nothing to help her escape from the pervert and she was rudely returned to reality when said pervert decided to kiss her. Stunned by his brazen act that caught her off guard, Naru did not react. Just as he finished pulling back from the unwanted kiss, her wished-for distraction finally arrived in the form of ChibiUsa.

* * *

Today it was just the two of them out on the town and upon entering into the gardens they had decided to split up to explore separately first given that they only had a limited about of time before they needed to head home, Naru's mom had finally decided that she needed to really meet this young child that Naru was spending all of her time with and so they were to have dinner at Naru's. And, so ChibiUsa had immediately headed over to the rose exhibit. That exhibit had brought back memories of her father's garden and before long ChibiUsa was in need of some cheering up from her surrogate mother.

Subdued, ChibiUsa walked along the path towards the part of the gardens that Naru had said she was going to be. As she came around the final hedge that separated her from Naru, it was just in time to see Naru receive that unwelcome kiss. Concerned for Naru, ChibiUsa broke began trotting over while calling out "Naru-chan!"

Hearing ChibiUsa's cry, Naru turned and upon seeing ChibiUsa let out a sigh of relief. Though, even as she did another part of her tensed realizing that ChibiUsa was now involved with whatever this pervert might decide to do. She just hoped that he was the discreet type and that she would be able to use ChibiUsa's arrival as an excuse to break away. Seeing ChibiUsa open her arms as she ran over, Naru responded by kneeling down and gathering the young girl up.

For his part, the man's expression turned sour as soon as he saw the little kid running over. _ A little sister maybe? _ he thought to himself as he watched Naru kneel down. But then as he saw how Naru looked at the child, he changed his initial assessment. _ No, there is too much care there for this to simply be a little sister. Could this child be her daughter? _ As Hawk-Eye thought those thoughts, he realized that his affection had been spurned and cast aside. Now with a very dark mood, Hawk-Eye's eyes turned dangerous and he slapped the once again standing Naru across her face.

"I offer you my love and you betray me with this thing!" Hawk-Eye exclaimed to the stunned Naru and ChibiUsa.

Then reaching out he yanked ChibiUsa right out of Naru's arms, causing Naru to cry out "ChibiUsa-chan!"

"Your beautiful dream will still be mine." Hawk-Eye exclaimed as he held ChibiUsa from the back by the neck of her shirt.

"Let her go, please she is just an innocent kid." Naru pleaded with her attacker, now focused strictly on saving ChibiUsa. "I will go with you, just let her go, please."

Listening to Naru's pleas, ChibiUsa felt a warmth in her heart that prevented her from feeling the fear that was threatening to overwhelm her. Unfortunately, while she was in the right frame of mind to use her communicator, she was unable to as both of her hands were currently occupied with the task of trying to keep the front of her shirt from crushing her neck. As it was, she was barely succeeding and was already feeling quite faint.

"That is right. You will give me your dream mirror. But first I need to dispose of this nuisance that is preventing you from dreaming about only me." Hawk-Eye said before tossing ChibiUsa up into the air.

"ChibiUsa!" Naru screamed.

Once he had thrown ChibiUsa, Hawk-Eye snapped his fingers and said "One." With that count his outfit changed to that of a circus performer while a table appeared behind Naru. "Two" Hawk-Eye said as he unleashed a blast of energy from his hand and Naru was suddenly pulled against the table by its restraints. "Three" Hawk-Eye finished with when the energy blast slammed into ChibiUsa, the resulting explosion slamming her into the ground. However, worrying about ChibiUsa's condition was no longer on Naru's mind as she suddenly screamed out in pain when at the same time the blast of energy hit ChibiUsa, her dream mirror was ripped from her chest.

Walking towards the girl who had managed to clamp down on her screaming, Hawk-Eye jammed his head into her dream mirror, breaking the composure that she had been able to gain. Taking his time to poke his head around in her dreamscape, he frowned as he noticed that her dreams seemed to have become concerned primarily with that child. _ What a waste._ he thought to himself before pulling his head out.

* * *

When the blast hit her body, ChibiUsa screamed out in pain as the faint traces of Moon energy in her body along with her own nescent golden energies did their best to shield her from the energy of the attack. However, the traces were too faint and too few to put up more than a token shield. As the energy flowed across her body, her clothes were burned away. Her skin soon followed suit in blistering while ChibiUsa screamed as she never had before. Even the transformation into Black Lady was nothing like this. But even as her arms, legs, and face began to blister and blacken, she felt an energy building from inside of her and then a golden arrow of light punched out from her chest and through the attack.

As her body began to fall back to the ground, ChibiUsa followed that energy as it arced around before disappearing. In the moments before it vanished, she thought she saw a Pegasus behind the golden arrow, but the moment was too brief.

"I'm sorry that I could not do more young maiden." A kind sad voice said once the golden arrow had vanished.

Recognizing the voice as being the same one as from her dream the previous night, ChibiUsa replied, "Arigato." Having said that she found her eyes feeling heavy and she fell unconscious, loosing all feeling moments before she impacted the ground, hard, shattering her already severely damaged communicator in the process.

* * *

Picking up her bag, Minako got off the bus. With the onset of the summer weather, she was finally able to indulge in one of her favorite pastimes – volleyball. She had of course thought about trying out for the team at school and not long ago she would have. But with her responsibilities to her princess, she could not make the firm commitment that the team required. It would be unfair to the other members of the team and especially to those who did not make the team if she skipped out on practices and games whenever a demon was rampaging around.

The answer to her desires had come a couple of weeks ago when Erion had stumbled upon a certain little gaijin establishment. At first glance one might miss that it was really a bar with its sand volleyball courts, but from the town that its owner's came from these types of bars were quite popular. After all, what better way to work up the thirst for some adult beverages than by playing volleyball with your friends. However, here in Tokyo the bar was unfortunately not that very popular; now if the owner had decided on a karaoke bar, things would have been quite different. And under normal circumstances the bar would gone out of business, but as fate would have it an airman from Zima had found it and within one week the bar had become a favorite place amongst the burgeoning military force stationed at Zima. Where before it was fun to play volleyball with your friends it even better when you could engage in friendly inter squad rivalry with the losers buying drinks.

With Erion's current day job of training the newly arrived soldiers in the peculiarities of what they would be facing when Galaxia's forces arrived, it was not long before she had been brought along to the bar to join in the fun. That following Saturday afternoon, Erion had returned with Minako knowing from her interaction with her fellow Sailor Senshi how much their leader enjoyed playing volleyball. The question of whether or not it would be wise to bring a junior high student to a bar of course never crossed Erion's mind. Outside of Earth there never would have been a question as to whether or not Minako was underage. She was a Star Child and that made her of age once she could reliably call upon her powers.

Seeing the volleyball courts when they arrived had instantly perked Minako's attention. However, as there were no games currently going on the two of them had headed in to sit down and eat an early dinner. By the time they had finished up, a pickup game had started and Minako quickly made her way out to see about joining in. She was readily accepted into the game as the young twenty year olds were all about having a cute girl joining them – not that they realized just how young Minako was. Though, soon after joining in she proved that she had value besides being cute with her team easily out playing the other one.

After that one time, Minako fell in love with that bar and its sand volleyball courts and many evening would find her down there looking to join with who ever needed an extra player. However, due to her age, when she was not accompanied by Erion the bartenders would force her to leave as the night began to move beyond the early dinner hour. Disappointed as she was in having to leave just when the games were getting good, especially those nights when she did not have school the next day, Minako understood their reasons and she did not want to get them in trouble with the law. However, whereas Minako was content many of the other patrons were not and instead wanted the cute star volleyball player to stay as late as she wanted. With some negotiations they were finally able to convince the owners of the bar to allow Minako to extend her curfew from 7 to 10 with the stipulations that she wear a special set of plastic bands on each of her wrists to aid the staff in making sure that she never drank anything stronger than soda and the understanding that if she was found with any alcoholic beverage even once she would be banned.

When the owner had met her the following day to discuss the terms that he was offering to allow her to stay later, Minako was ecstatic. And after profusely thanking him for the extra leniency she had readily accepted the bands and wore them with pride, knowing the trust that they signified. Her opponents that night had been left wondering if maybe they had made a mistake given how energetically she was playing – sending more than one player to the sidelines after they got in the way of one of her spikes.

Now turning off the sidewalk, on in through the gates, and onto the grounds of the bar, Minako couldn't help but let her stride pick up a little extra bounce. She loved playing volleyball and now she had the perfect stress relief. And with the summer holiday coming up she would be able to spend even more late evenings here. _ I will have to get the others together for a game for one of the days during break. _ Minako thought to herself. Then letting her mind wander along that line for a bit she imaged getting them together for a game with them all transformed _ Now that would be a good game. _ Minako thought this time with a large smile. And she was sure that the publicity that word of that little game would bring would ensure that this bar was around for a long time.

Looking over at the courts she saw that none of them were currently occupied. With it being midweek that was not too surprising and anyways she needed to do her homework first. Her parents, busy as they were with their own careers and social climbing, did not worry that Minako tended to stay out late. All they expected from Minako was that she maintain decent grades. While at times she wished for a family more like Usagi's, she knew that for her duty as Sailor Venus her family was just what she needed. She knew that they loved her, even though they might not show it all the time, and she appreciated the level of trust they showed. Without the extreme level of trust that they had in her, she never would have been able to make those various journeys out of the country alone in pursuit of her duty as Sailor V. And as long as she kept her grades respectable, they did not expect perfect, and stayed out of trouble they would continue to let her have her freedom.

Smiling at Tanaka Rie as she entered, Minako headed over to her normal table. Sitting down, Minako removed her books from her bag so as to begin her homework.

"How was school today?" Rie asked as she returned with a glass of water for Minako.

"The usual. Too long and too much homework. I think they want to make up for us getting time out for summer." Minako replied.

"Hai, I know what you mean. College is not that much better. It seems that any time I have a break coming up they want to load us down with extra work. They seem to believe that because we don't have classes that we can spend all of that extra time doing extra homework." Then turning to business, Rie continued, "So are you going to have dinner here tonight and stay late playing games or are you going to be eating at home tonight?"

"Tonight's a game night." Minako replied as she cracked open her first book. "So I'll just have …" Minako was saying when her communicator cut her off. "Sorry about that, but I need to check on something." Minako said quickly as she grabbed her cell phone from her bag and got up and headed outside. Her actions had been so quick that Rie did not have time to realize that something might have been odd about the source of the loud alarm.

"Venus here." Minako said once she was outside and thankfully opening the channel proved to at least temporarily silence the alarm.

* * *

Makoto, who was working on her Language Arts research paper, slowly walked down one of the isles at the library, reading reach of the book titles in turn. Every now and then she would remove one of the books and examine its table of contents to see if it was worth taking it back to the table where she had set herself up. She already had a nice stack of books on Ancient Greece there already; unfortunately, none of them contained much in the way of useful information on the weapons used during the time that the Odyssey was supposed to have taken place. Her teacher of course had to go and assign her one of the harder topics; though, in some ways she guessed that the topic was fitting given that she was a soldier after all. She had thought of asking Ami for some help in getting started on the research, but one look at the bags under her friend's eyes this morning dispelled that thought.

Ami already had enough on her plate with the research she was doing and Makoto couldn't ask for a selfish request like this. As such, Makoto was here at the library by herself doing her best to do her own research. She had seen Ami research things enough times and had paid some attention in class those days that their teacher had discussed research techniques that she had some idea of what she was doing. Of course, even still it looked like she might end up relocating the entire section on Ancient Greece to her table before she finished. Something that she was sure was going to make the library workers so very happy.

Seeing a title entitled "Warfare in the Ancient World," Makoto smiled. Removing the book from the shelf she began to flip through it, her eyes widening in glee as she read the table of contents, then flipping to the specified pages, her mood continued to increase as she skimmed the first page. _ Yes! Now this is exactly what I need. _ Makoto thought to herself.

Unfortunately, for Makoto fate decided to throw her a new curve ball when her communicator suddenly began blaring a very loud alarm. Dropping the book, Makoto rapidly brought the communicator up to her eye level as she tried to figure out how to silence it. She tried to hit what she thought was the acknowledgement button, but to no effect. Now hitting buttons in near random motion, a quite embarrassed but also very worried Makoto began to quickly make her way towards the library exit, apologizing to the very unhappy looking patrons and library workers as she passed. With the ruckus her communicator was making there was no way she was going to be able to collect her gear first and she definitely was not going to be able to check out that book.

Having finally exited the library, Makoto quickly moved behind a pillar and out of the immediate sight of anybody before her henshin into Sailor Jupiter. Having completed her henshin, she noticed that the alarm appeared to have silenced itself. _ Figures. _ Jupiter thought to herself, before thumbing the channel to Ami open.

"Ami-chan what is going on?" Jupiter asked as she bounded up to the top of the library so as to ensure some privacy.

"The carrier signal for the princess's communicator has dropped out." Ami replied.

Makoto at first thought that Ami was talking about Usagi, but then a moment later realized that Ami was of course talking about ChibiUsa. While Ami's identity had been revealed to the government, none of the other's were revealed and so Ami of course needed to refer to ChibiUsa by title and not by name. "What do you mean?" Jupiter asked instead, confused by Ami's use of terminology.

By this time the others had all joined in on their own communicators and it was Haruka who replied, "What she means is that her highness's communicator has been destroyed."

"Nani." Everyone else but Ami shouted over the channel.

"Demo, how can that be?" Venus asked between breaths as she ran towards the Juuban district. "I thought you said these things are nearly indestructible."

"Hai." Was all that Ami said, but the inflection of her voice and the facial expressions that were visible across the communication told what Ami could not vocalize.

"Where?" Haruka said breaking the moment of silence that had followed Ami's reply.

"Shiba Park. I am heading there now on Shinjuku Dori with a squad of security from the facility." Ami replied, "We will be arriving soon."

* * *

With nothing else to be said, the Senshi closed the links and Ami returned her attention to the road. While the road was fairly busy with traffic given that it was the end of the work day, the humvee was still making very good time through the streets as the other drivers quickly made way for the military police vehicle. As the vehicle skidded around a corner, Ami was very glad that she had made sure to securely fasten her seatbelt first as she was sure that she would have been tossed out of the vehicle otherwise.

Now able to see the entrance to the park up ahead, Ami and the others put their helmets on, fastening them in place with the chin straps. When the vehicle came to a stop moments later, she and the others quickly exited and finished loading the live ammo into their rifles. Though, whereas the others had loaded regular ammunition, Ami had loaded hers with a magazine of the experimental bullets produced by the wizards. She had no idea of how they would work against a real demon, but she also knew that the regular ammunition would be insufficient.

Following the lead of the First Lieutenant, the squad quickly made their way into the heart of the park. As they advanced, Ami had her computer out, scanning the area and passing along the relevant information to the lieutenant using the limited hand signals that she had learned. Her computer easily picked up an energy reading that she interpreted to be the enemy attacking another victim, but it was unable to pick up anything that gave her any idea as to ChibiUsa's condition or location.

Doing her best to keep her heart under check, Ami obeyed the hold command as they reached the last of the cover. Turning back to look at his troops, the lieutenant confirmed that they all were ready. While he and his men did have a fair bit of combat training, even as military police officers who had spent their careers patrolling city military assets, he still wondered if they were truly ready to go up against a real demon.

Looking over at the "civilian" that had tagged along, he used that term as he still had trouble believing that she was a real warrior, he saw that she seemed to be handling herself sufficiently well. While he could see the fear that was on the girl's face, he had to admit that she looked better than a raw recruit would in facing his first firefight. _ Well Hojo, it is time to show everyone what being military police really means. _ he thought to himself before giving the signal to move out.

* * *

"Such a beautiful dream potential you have my dear, it is a shame you waste it on that brat. If you had saved it for me, I would have spared you. But I really can't let you remain as a refuge for that Pegasus." Hawk-Eye said after having just stared at Naru's unconscious body for some minutes after he had pulled his head out of her dream mirror.

Reaching down to his right ankle, he removed a throwing knife. Standing back up he closed the gap between him and Naru. "Even if you did spurn my love, you are still quite beautiful." Hawk-Eye said as he leaned in and kissed Naru lightly on the lips.

While her mind had shut itself down over the pain that had accompanied his assault into her dream mirror, Naru found herself wakening back up as Hawk-Eye kissed her. Blinking to regain her vision, Naru tried to remember what had happened. Lifting her eyes up, she saw her attacker. Now remembering what had happened, she turned her head as much as she could and spit before turning her gaze back venomously to Hawk-Eye.

"You, you, how dare you!!!!" Hawk-Eye yelled as Naru spited him with the last minutes of her life. "I was going to kill you myself; it would have been gentle and caressing. But no, you can't get that honor. Lemure come forth and kill this wench!" Hawk-Eye yelled.

The appearance of a grotesque looking juggler was accompanied with the retort of automatic weapon fire. To Hawk-Eye's good fortune, the lemure had appeared in between himself and the soldiers, shielding him from their bullets. For their part, the soldiers did not let the Lemure's appearance faze them and continued their attack, effectively distracting it from its task of killing Naru.

While the soldiers had all opened fire as one, Ami had held her fire as she assessed the situation, knowing that her fire probably would not make a difference against the Lemure and not wanting to waste her special ammunition. Looking for the victim, her eyes quickly located Naru. If this attack proved true to the pattern that this enemy was following, the demon master would attempt to kill Naru now. As such, Ami knew that she would need to save her shots to distract the demon master long enough for them to rescue Naru. Turning her attention now to assessing the demon master, she saw a glint of metal in his hands. Even as Ami took notice of the metal, training from her past life took over with her mind exclaiming _weapon _ and before she knew it, she had raised her rifle and fired off a single round.

The crack of that round firing was lost in the noise of the rest of the weapon's fire and as such Hawk Eye was caught utterly unaware when the round slammed into his chest just below his right shoulder blade. Impacting against his warding spells, the lead shell of the needle round was quickly stripped away from the spell crystal. No longer stabilized by the magical equivalent of a Faraday Cage, the stored spell activated, releasing in a flash of blue light forward and backwards along its spin axis, a cutting spell.

Taken by surprise both by its unexpectedness and the intense pain it caused, Hawk-Eye screamed and dropped his knife. Smiling as she saw that her shot had the exact intended result, Ami advanced. She had purposely not aimed for the demon master's head or the center of his chest, knowing that her best course of action likely lay with disrupting his attempt to kill Naru. Slowly walking forward to bring herself into a better firing position, Ami sighted four other locations on Hawk-Eye's body and fired off four more single shot rounds.

Even with five direct hits, Hawk-Eye was not seriously injured for as effective they were in piercing straight through hid body they caused minimal damage – the cutting hex was too tightly focused. However, as trivial as the wounds may have been, their suddenness broke Hawk-Eye's composure.

"Lemure kill them, kill them all. I want no mercy. Kill them all but that blue haired one. Bring her mangled body to me so that I can kill her myself." Hawk-Eye yelled with madness creeping into his voice before teleporting away.

Ami's stomach had first sunk when she had heard Hawk-Eye begin to speak certain that she was in deep trouble. Without the Sailor Senshi here there was nothing to stop the demon master from ripping her to shreds in his madness and that was sure what was about to happen. But then to her relief he had teleported away. Looking over at the other soldiers and the demon, she noticed that it had not changed its fighting style as a result of its master's instructions, obviously unaffected by the madness that had consumed Hawk-Eye. Then as she was in the process of turning her attention back to Naru, a portion of the hedges garnered her attention.

Letting her attention focus on that section of the hedges, Ami's blood began to run cold as her mind started to assemble a possible scenario. No longer interested in the rest of the battle or even concerned with making sure that Naru was okay, Ami rose from the kneeling position that she had attacked Hawk-Eye from and made her way over. Thankfully, even as Ami's conscious thoughts were occupied with ChibiUsa's fate, her self-preservation instincts subconsciously navigated her over to the hedges along a route that kept her out of her allies' line of fire. Each step that Ami took on her way to the hedge was slightly bit faster than the previous one and by the time she had reached the hedges she was sprinting. Even when Ami reached the edge of the hedges, she failed to slow down; instead, she leapt over the initial row. In so doing her eyes caught sight of what she had feared that she would find – the broken body of ChibiUsa.

"ChibiUsa-chan" Ami cried out in sorrow as she reached the apex of her leap.

Drained of energy by her discovery, Ami with tears in her eyes fell limply back to the ground, barely landing on her knees. But even as she hit the ground, she gathered her strength, took a deep breath, and pushed on. Standing back up, she walked over to ChibiUsa's body. Kneeling down beside the young girl, she carefully adjusted her hold on her rifle so that it remained ready but was held in her left hand. Then using her right hand she began to check ChibiUsa's vitals. Finding a pulse, Ami breathed a heavy sigh of relief before retrieving her computer and using it to run a detailed scan. What she saw did not please her one bit. While ChibiUsa was currently alive, she would not last long with out advanced medical care, the kind only available in a hospital. And even then it would be iffy.

A sudden explosion from the battlefield drew Ami's attention away from ChibiUsa. Turning her head, she was just in time to see the soldiers dive for cover as the demon tossed another burning and explosive bowling pin their way. However, it was not all bad for the good guys, as help had finally arrived and the Jupiter decided to return the favor by giving the demon a ball of lighting to play catch with. Hoping that this meant that they now had the upper hand, Ami returned her attention to ChibiUsa. Examining her scan results and analysis again, Ami began to run some calculations through her mind. But as she finished her mental calculations and rechecked them the initial optimism the Jupiter's arrival had brought faded completely.

ChibiUsa would not survive if she waited for the demon to be defeated; it took them far too long to kill them without Sailor Moon. However, the only viable exit from the park was back by the demon and without properly immobilizing ChibiUsa her injuries would likely kill the girl just by moving her. But moving her was the only option that Ami saw with the possibility of ChibiUsa living. Now with her decision made, Ami carefully examined her immediate area, looking for anything that might be helpful and in that aspect she was in luck. Before the afternoon's disturbance workers had been in the processing of tying vines up onto a trestle not far from where ChibiUsa had landed.

Grabbing the twine without any concern of her appropriation, Ami quickly made her way back to ChibiUsa. Once she returned to ChibiUsa's side she knelt down and set her computer down on the ground with its medical scanning functionality active. Then, working as fast and carefully as she could, Ami proceeded to wrap the twine around ChibiUsa's body, using the girl's own body as a splint. Ideally she would have liked a nice straight sturdy object to use as the splint, but she hadn't seen anything that would have been useful in her survey. As Ami wrapped ChibiUsa she had to be very careful in passing the twine below the young girl's body so as to not jostle any of the broken bones. But after quite a few minutes, Ami succeed in doing her best to immobilize ChibiUsa.

Once she had finished, Ami put her computer away. Then after saying "Forgive me ChibiUsa-chan, but this is probably going to hurt a lot" Ami gently hefted her princess up into her arms. Then after adjusting ChibiUsa's position so that she would have an arm free, Ami reached down flicked the selector on her rifle, which she had placed down while binding ChibiUsa's body to full auto, before retrieving it. _ Now I just need to somehow get past that demon with out it taking a pot shot at me. Regardless of how badly I would be injured any hit would surly be fatal to ChibiUsa. _ Ami thought to herself once she had stood back up and as tried to think of a better option than just making mad dash. But even as she began to try to think of a plan, a thick fog bank seemed to roll in. _ Demo how is that possible? Isn't this my shabon spell? _

Even though Ami had no idea where the fog was coming from or why it seemed so much like her own spell, she was not about to let the good fortune go to waste. And so capitalizing on her newly found cover, she decided to go with the mad dash option. As Ami ran through the fog bank, she was unable to see more than a few paces in front of her and then only when she followed a path laid out by the fog. For someone who was used to being able to see extremely well in their own summoned fog bank, it was a disconcerting sensation. But Ami made it no heed, just hoping that the demon was equally blinded. As she ran, she could hear the others, which now numbered more than just Jupiter and appeared to include Mars, Uranus, and Neptune attempted to coordinate their attacks through the loss of visibility.

Reaching what Ami estimated to be her closest approach to the demon, she sharply veered off to the right as she blindly trusted the path that the fog bank was laying out for her. That faith, however, began to waver as she heard the howls of what sounded like wolves in the night followed soon after by the sounds of predator attacking its prey – sounds that she had last heard at Mugen. Now pushing her legs even faster, Ami prayed that she would be able to make it out with ChibiUsa before this new demon turned its attention to her.

Finally reaching the edge of the fog bank and coincidently the edge of the park, Ami found herself suddenly in the clear. Momentarily blinded by the bright sun as its light suddenly returned, it took Ami a few moments to realize where she was – in the middle of a busy Tokyo street. Reacting purely on instinct, she dodged between the cars as she began to reassess the situation. Without even thinking about it, she brought her rifle back up to a ready position so as to be prepared. Seeing that rifle, the Tokyo drivers went from cursing the crazy girl to cursing even more loudly as they quickly cleared out of the way and causing a massive pileup in the process. However, Ami did not notice, as she was running on pure adrenaline by this point, with only the protection of ChibiUsa on her mind.

Quickly spotting a military ambulance parked some distance down the road Ami began to head in that direction. As she ran, she paid limited attention anything else, simply categorizing them in her mind as obstacles. As such, when a car got in her way, if she could leap onto its hood or trunk, she did so, otherwise she went around it. By the time that Ami had made it halfway to her goal, the military medics had been alerted to her presence by the commotion that she was creating and had moved to intercept her, while the driver of the humvee that was the ambulance had taken to driving on the sidewalk so as to close the gap.

"Ma'am we'll take it from here." One of the medics said as he reached Ami.

Hearing the voice, Ami reacted by sighting her rifle on the young medic's chest. But then as her eyes followed her rifle, her mind was able to vaguely recognize the uniform. Now recognizing the man as an ally, Ami lowered the rifle and carefully handled over ChibiUsa.

When Ami, brought her rifle to bear on him, Kite's eyes went wide and then as a he caught sight of her eyes, his heart skipped a beat. The mental state reflected in those eyes was of a soldier pushed past her limits, one that would not necessarily recognize an ally. But then recognition flashed in the other soldier's eyes and Kite released his breath as Ami lowered her rifle. When a few moments later Ami transferred ChibiUsa to his arms, Kite was in for a second shock.

"Shinji, this one's critical. We need morphine, transfusion stock, the defibrillator…" Kite called out as he turned and began jogging as fast as he could to the humvee where the others were already breaking out their heavy duty supplies.

Following a few paces behind Kite, was Akiko, a military police officer attached to the medic corps as they operated here in the city. Her breath too had caught when Ami had brought up her rifle. However, she, unlike Kite, was armed with more than a service pistol. But instead of making any motion for her firearm, Akiko had stopped and turned her palms up while bringing her hands partially up until Ami had lowered her rifle, knowing from her hostage training that the last thing she wanted to do was to make any kind of threatening gestures.

Thankfully, Ami had quickly recognized them as allies and then once Ami had handed over the casualty, Akiko approached Ami. As she got a good look at the other soldier now, she was amazed to see how young she looked. Shoving that thought to the back of her mind, Akiko reached out and after receiving a nod, took Ami's rifle. Then after taking a moment to eject the magazine, clear the chamber and engage the safety, she slung the rifle up onto her shoulder. With the weapon safed, she turned her attention back to Ami and said, noticing the glint of lieutenant bars on Ami's flak jacket, "Ma'am you have done a good job. We'll make sure that she gets the best possible care possible. Now why don't you come with me so that we can take care of you as well."

With those words said, Akiko moved to lead Ami to the humvee. However, Ami's body, unsupplemented by her planetary power, had been pushed past its limits. Until now the flow of adrenaline in her blood had kept it functioning, but with the moment's rest that had accompanied the handoff of ChibiUsa that flow had stopped and with it Ami's body crashed into a recovery state. Seeing, her companion stumble, Akiko realized that this officer probably would not be able to make it over to the humvee on her own power and so guided her down to the street.

"Don't worry we can always wait for the others to bring a stretcher over for you as well. But while we wait, you should drink some water." And with that Akiko handed over to Ami her canteen. And, with Akiko helping to guide her hands, Ami took a few sips of the water before her mind finally finished shutting down.

* * *

By the time that the Sailor StarLights arrived on the scene of the demon battle, the flower garden had been utterly destroyed. Even though a full brigade of military assets had arrived on scene not long after Ami had arrived with her advance guard of the regular MP guards from the facility, the Sailor Senshi still had not been able to gain an upper hand with the demon. Part of this was due to this demon's ability to juggle any of the heavy ordnance fired at it and to then return those rockets back to the Senshi, soldiers, or aircraft. It did not matter how many rockets they fired off at once, as the demon had juggling skills that defied logic.

Thankfully for them, the Sailor Senshi did not have too much trouble in dodging the returned ordnance; though, they did pick up a fair number of scrapes and bruises from near misses. The ground forces were luckily only considered a nuisance by the demon and as such were not target by any of the demon's attacks of yet. The gunships, however, were less fortunate. The only thing they had going for them was that the returned ammunition traveled along a haphazard ballistic path and so was relatively easy to dodge. But even still, more than one gunship had taken critical damage and was forced into a crash landing nearby.

After the third Cobra had been knocked out of the fight, the remaining ones decided to pull back. But even as they were withdrawing to a safe distance a fourth Cobra was forced down. Once they reached what they felt to be a safe distance, the remaining gunships proceeded to setup a perimeter, waiting until they could swoop in to avenge their fallen friends. While the Cobras waited, the newly purchased Warthogs, circling above them, waited as well. Popularly known as the Warthog for its distinctive, unusually unsleek shape, the A-10/OA-10 Avenger II is a tank's worst nightmare, armed as it is with numerous anti-tank rockets and an immense depleted uranium Gatling cannon the size of a VW Beetle, and it was hoped that these new purchases would be able to tear apart the magically enhanced demon hide as easily as they did tank armor.

Even though the Warthogs were expected to be able to shred the demon, they had not been issued the "Weapons Free" order due to fear of collateral damage. While they were designed for close in air support on the battle field that close in support did not extend to the limit of what was essentially hand-to-hand combat in a city environment. If the power of the Warthogs was to be unleashed anyone not able to clear the immediate area would be killed and there was also likely to be massive damage to the office buildings surrounding the park. A further concern, especially in Japan, though one that barely registered next to the others, was the likely public reaction once it got out that depleted uranium munitions were used. It would not matter that depleted meant that the level of radioactivity was reduced below that of natural uranium ore, the public fear would not care and there was still the issue that any heavy metal, radioactive or not, was toxic if ingested. As such, the three Warthog pilots were afforded with an excellent view of the battle from their bubble cockpits but were unable to do anything.

As such all participants were quite relieved when three blasts of energy announced the arrival of the latest set of Senshi to arrive on the planet. Caught off guard by the new threat, all three attacks hit home and blasted the demon off its feet. Seeing the moment they were waiting for, the Cobra gunships swarmed back into action, dumping all of their remaining munitions at the demon before pulling up and away. As the Warthog flight was also communicating with their controller on the same frequency that the rest of the forces were using, the announcement that the demon had been momentarily incapacitated was also heard by their controller and they received limited weapons free. While they were still forbidden from using their nose cannons, the numerous rockets and missiles were fair game and as they screamed in from the east, they unleashed as many munitions as they could fire before they were past the target, resulting in a massive explosion

"I think somebody has gotten a bit fed up with this demon" Venus, who had been tossed a fair distance by the explosion, said as she picked herself up off the ground.

"I don't think they left any of it behind." Jupiter replied with a grossed out expression as she got a good look at the splattered demon remains, some of which was on her fuku. "Well this does prove the adage that with enough explosives you can take anything down."

Walking up on the other side of the resulting crater, Mars took out a series of spirit wards. Then using the wards as a focus, she drew upon her power as Sailor Mars and her powers as a Shinto priestess to generate spheres of purifying energy. Letting those spheres absorb into her foci, she tossed the six strips of paper in a star formation at the ground. Hitting the ground, lines of energy arced between the wards in sets of three, revealing the star formation. Once the lines were formed, the star pulsed and the wards incinerated themselves as they released a pulse of white energy across the ground dispelling the last of the demon energy.

"I am glad that is over." Uranus said as she and Neptune walked over towards Mars.

"Hai." the rest of the Senshi agreed.

As the assembled Senshi began to head over towards Naru, Venus paused for a moment to look up in the direction that their helped had arrived from. _ There's more of them? _ She thought with surprise as she made out that there was more than one Senshi clustered on top of the building from which the attack had come from. Giving a wave of thanks and one that also indicated that they should come on down, she turned so as to go check on Naru as well. _ But why do I feel like this is may not be such a good thing. _ she wondered as fear of an even bigger battle with Galaxia than what Erion had alluded to began to eat away at her.

* * *

Watching the local Sailor Soldiers who were being more jubilant than they had a right to be Maker turned back to her two sisters. "You're right Fighter. These Sailor Soldiers are barely trained. They had far too much trouble with such a weak demon. They will be slaughtered when Galaxia arrives."

"I agree, and furthermore they appear to know only low level attacks. Though, that red suited one did use an interesting finishing attack there at the end. Too bad she is not skilled enough to incorporate that into her fighting as if she had, they would have been able to easily take down that demon long before it created this mess." Healer added.

"So then, what do we do?" Fighter asked. This was a question she had thought long and hard about since she had made her report to the princess. She still had no idea what to do and hoped that her elders would know what to do.

"There is only one thing that we can do. We must force them to get better and the fastest way to do that is by striking at something they hold dear." Healer said, earning a gasp of shock from Fighter.

"But…" Fighter began.

"Healer is right. As Star Children we are at our best when we are protecting. If they are going to be able to help us, then we need them to be a lot stronger and we also need to find that Light of Hope. And, we don't have the time to waste doing this the nice way."

"You're right, but still…" Fighter said.

Laying a hand down on Fighter's shoulder, Maker continued with a more somber tone. "I don't want to do this either. This goes against everything we stand for, and that is why the princess gave us those orders. Once this mess is over, assuming that we are all able to survive Galaxia we can see about making amends.

Knowing that both Maker and Healer were right, Fighter let her objections drop. She knew that she was lucky to have the two of them around to make those decisions. Even though the path they were about to start down was one to save not only the galaxy, but potentially even this planet, she still felt incredibly guilty about what they were about to do. But as the youngest of the three, by many centuries, she had that luxury of feeling guilty and could instead let Maker and Healer make the hard decisions.

Turning to look back at what had been ground zero, Fighter absently noted that the military forces appeared to be moving off while the local Sailor Senshi were congregating around the apparent victim of this demon attack. The one complication in the plan of attacking something that the local Sailor Senshi held dear was the fact that the not much was known about the Sailor Senshi of this planet. They vanished back into the regular populace, not yet holding roles in the government, and so there was no personal information that could be used against them. Still watching the Sailor Senshi as she continued her thoughts, Fighter noticed something. Unlike the previous battles she had observed, they appeared to be spending a large amount of time with this victim and it was not just one of them either, but pretty much the entire group.

Turning back to the others, Fighter reluctantly said, "I think I know what we can use. And there is nothing like the present to start with their training."

* * *

"Arigato minna-san" Naru said to the gathered group of Sailor Senshi as they helped her back to her feet. "But what about ChibiUsa-chan?" she asked with a fearful tone, the image of ChibiUsa being hit dead on in the middle of the sky having been etched into her mind.

Laying a hand down on Naru's shoulder, Mars said, "We have to hope for the best. I sensed Ami running out earlier with ChibiUsa. She seems to have regained enough of her powers to call upon her fog bank to cover her escape so I am sure she escaped. Knowing Ami, she is probably right now aiding the doctors in helping ChibiUsa recover. And you have to remember that even though ChibiUsa can't henshin anymore even in our civilian forms we can take a lot of punishment." Of course in thinking about the amount of abuse that they were able to take, Rei made the typical mistake of forgetting that Usagi and ChibiUsa were different from the rest of the Senshi.

"She was able to use her powers?" Naru asked, trying to grasp onto something positive to boost her spirits with.

"Hai, and boy was that some creepy fog bank she summoned. It's nothing like her old shabon spray. That one we could still see in. This one we could only vaguely make out the demon and some landmarks immediately around us. And then there were that howling." Jupiter said with a slight shiver as she thought about what it felt like to be in the fog bank.

"Tell me about it. I would never have thought that she had it in her to create something so creepy. Though, it would be one hell of a neat trick to use on Halloween." Uranus added. That last comment though did not go over well with Neptune, who gave Uranus a look that told her what she thought of that comment.

"Guess it is true what they say about the most dangerous ones being the ones that you would least expect. I mean who would have thought Ami, Usagi, or Hotaru would be the last people that you would want to run into in a back alley at night." Naru said with a smile.

However, before anyone could respond to that comment, a narrow beam of energy impacted in the middle of the group. Reacting on instinct, each of the Sailor Senshi jumped clear and dropped into a defensive crouch. Taking advantage of the moment's opening that she had gotten, Fighter swooped in and grabbed a hold of the back of Naru's shirt and then leapt clear.

"Let Naru go! I thought you were on our side." Venus yelled as soon as she saw what was happening.

"We will happily exchange this girl who is obviously a good friend of yours for the Light of Hope." Fighter said as she landed.

"Releasing Naru is not a negotiable item." Uranus said as she began to charge forward with Space Sword in hand.

"That's right, this is not a negotiation." Maker said as she fired a ball of energy into Uranus's path forcing the other girl to halt her advance.

"Now there are only three of us, though. And, Fighter here is going to be fairly occupied watching our bargaining chip, so you do have a three to one advantage. It's your choice, you can either take the girl back by force or you can give us the Light of Hope and we will release her. We don't really want to harm her, but the Light of Hope is of utter importance and if she must be sacrificed to save our planet then that is what we will do." Healer added.

"You bastards!" Uranus swore before unleashing a powerful but horribly aimed blast from her talisman.

Easily dodging the opening salvo, the two fighting StarLights counter attacked. With how worn out the Sailor Senshi of the Silver Millennium and Sailor Erion were, the disparity in skill between the local warriors and the Star Lights became even more pronounced. And while Erion was able to keep up fairly well, Maker and Healer double teamed her first, quickly neutralizing her with a series of non-lethal injuries that would likely keep her down for some days.

As this fighting was going on, Fighter turned Naru around. Releasing her hold on Naru, Fighter began to pat down the young girl looking for any information that might be useful. Knowing that she would not get more than a half step away if she tried to make a break for it, Naru simply stood there. As Fighter began to rummage through her purse, which by some miracle had remained with her throughout the afternoon, Naru felt compelled to speak up, filling Usagi's role.

"Why are you doing this? The others have no desire to be your enemy and I know you have helped them before."

Looking up at the young girl's eyes, Fighter could see the sincerity in them. She was also surprised to see an innocence of the soul combined with a maturity, two items that should have been mutually exclusive. Looking into those eyes, Fighter realized that this was girl who while having seen the worst horrors still retained her ability to see the world in its underlying purity. That paradox, which shone through the girl's eyes, tugged at her heart so much that she actually felt ashamed of her actions for a moment. But then remembering the fate that was bound to befall her princess shortly, she steeled her heart.

Looking down at the ID card that she now held, Fighter replied, "You would not understand. There are horrors in the galaxy far beyond what you can imagine. We will do whatever it takes to save our planet. Even if we have to sell our souls to Chaos itself we would gladly accept oblivion if it could spare our princess and our people a few more days." Then handing back the purse to Naru, Fighter finished with "I know it is harsh Osaka Naru, but you are expendable."

Hearing this new enemy speak her name, Naru's face went white. The terror she had faced when being molested by the previous enemy was nothing compared to what she felt now. Looking down at the purse as she accepted it form Fighter, she noticed that her wallet was open to her school ID. She was no longer just some random victim; the enemy knew who she was and where she went to school.

Looking back over her shoulder, Fighter took notice of how much her sisters were trouncing the others. Turning back to Naru she added, "It is a shame they are such poor fighters. But if they had just given us the Light of Hope then this would not have been an…"

Fighter's last words were caught off when she suddenly grasped her chest as blood spurted out from it. Falling to her knees, she felt another spike of pain stab through her chest as yet another series of spurt of blood opened up. Lifting her head up to scan for threats, she this time was able to see the muzzle flashed of a rifle moments before yet another one of Ami's needle shots flashed through her chest. Letting her body slump to one side and using her left hand to support her, Fighter fired off an attack in the direction of her attacker. Unfortunately, for her the other soldiers had joined in with Ami and her attack, poorly aimed as it was, was aimed towards them and not Ami.

Realizing that the tides were starting to turn against them, Fighter called out, "Maker, Healer its time to go."

Then gathering what little strength she had left, Fighter let her body flow into a shooting star. The transformation to pure energy saved her from a salvo of semiautomatic anti-demon fire. However, with her energy already weakened by the unexpected hits, the fleeing star only managed to travel to the outskirts of Tokyo before falling back to the ground.

Seeing Fighter star travel away, Maker and Healer quickly followed suit puzzled as to why she would be leaving so suddenly and in such a manner. When they rematerialized by Fighter's crash site it was to find their sister crumpled on the ground where she had skidded upon landing with blood seeping from her chest.

"Fighter what happened?" Healer asked as she ran up to her young sister, concern clearly evident on her face.

Looking up at the worried faces of the others, Fighter tried to put on a brave smile as she replied, "I got careless. I let my warding spells lapse somewhat and got caught off guard when the local military began using techno-mage weapons." And as injured as she was, she actually felt grateful that they had been driven off, not having wanted to hurt that paradoxical girl. _ And maybe these people are not in such bad shape. _

Kneeling down next to Fighter, Maker checked her sister's wounds and found them to be all minor and to be already healing. Standing back up she said, "I hope you have learned your lesson about never letting your guard down." slightly chiding Fighter for the young warrior's bad habit, but with a smile to let the younger warrior know that she was not angry.

"I don't think you have to worry me forgetting that lesson again. I have no desire to be taken down by these needles again." Fighter replied, knowing that she had just been lucky that none of the local Senshi had capitalized on her distraction and that she had retained the energy to Star Travel.

Smiling her agreement as well as showing that she was not upset at Fighter for her carelessness, Maker helped Fighter up. "Now then we need to see about securing ourselves a method of living here." Maker said once Fighter was back on her feet.

"That is not going to be simple. We will need an identity that will allow us to move around a fair bit, plus we don't know what kind of resources we might need to locate the Light of Hope. If we are going to be training the Sailor Senshi, then we are going to need to hire others to help with the research."

"True." Maker and Fighter replied.

"Before we move onto that topic, I was able to learn some information about that girl we were using as a hostage. I now know her name and where she goes to school."

"Good going Fighter." Healer said. "This will help quite a bit if we don't have to hunt down the Sailor Senshi when it is time to work on their training."

* * *

Elsewhere in the city while the Sailor Senshi were battling one of the Dead Moon's demons, life went on as normal. And with how beautiful this early June day was turning out to be, the various parks were full with people out enjoying the pre-summer warmth. In one of those parks, a girl with auburn hair faded in from nothingness as she crossed into the park, not that anyone paid her arrival any attention. The well tailored kimono that she was wearing, though, did generate a couple of second looks, since it was rare to find children these days dressed up that nice when they were just out and about.

Aware of the looks that she was getting from some of the adults, Izumi just smiled back at them, receiving in return a smile and sometimes a "You're such a nice little girl" comment in addition. Taking the time to enjoy the late spring air herself, Izumi stretched her arms out for a few moments as she made her way over to the swings. As she passed by a group of children playing in the grass with their parents, Izumi paused for a moment with a semi-happy semi-sad smile, saddened by the memories of growing up having lost her mother to a mysterious illness. Shaking her head to force away those thoughts, she told herself _ Remember oka-san is a Choushin and only that reflection of her died. You live with her true-self now. And any ways Usa-chan needs me. _

Pushing her sad memories out of mind with a promise to herself that when she got home that she would have her mother and father baby her, Izumi resumed following the bond that linked her to her kin sister, Usa-chan. Even though they were not sisters by blood and had not spent much time together, each saw the other as a true sister. The two of them had first met a year ago, as time passed for Izumi, when Usagi lost in her grief from loosing the last of her childhood friends, Rei, had unknowingly used her powers over spacetime to plane jump.

Izumi had been heading out to the carrot field that afternoon to get some carrots for dinner when the older winged girl had appeared before her. Feeling the other girl's sadness echoed in her own heart, Izumi had been drawn to Usagi. Discarding her basket, she had knelt down beside the crying girl and pulled her into a hug. The two of them had stayed like that for many hours, with Usagi releasing all of the sadness that she felt. At some point during the afternoon, Izumi had, unknowingly, for the first time manifested her own seven Wings of the Light Hawk. One of the wings had formed into a gown while the other six had taken the form of wings, which she had wrapped around Usagi.

When Usagi had finally stopped crying and looked up into Izumi's eyes, an understanding of sister-hood passed between the two girls. While neither knew how they knew, each knew that the other was their counterpart - a guardian of the Cosmos. Over the course of the following week, the two of them, with the help of Izumi's aunt, had spent their time learning to harness their powers. And for Usagi through her interactions with Izumi, she was able to slowly deal with her grief. But a seed of that grief had remained, a seed that would eventually in the distant future overtake her again. After that first meeting, the two only saw each other three other times, each time for but a few minutes, and while only a year passed for Izumi many years passed for Usagi. And, that was how things would have continued but for a change in destiny, a change that a week ago brought a badly injured Usagi to Izumi.

While helping Usagi recover from her injuries, Izumi had learned of the changes to Usagi's timeline. Desiring to help, Izumi had gone to the Sea of Cosmos to check on her kin sister's younger-self. And now today, on her own initiative, after feeling intense fear across their bond, she was here in Usagi's Tokyo. Hastily jumping to be with her sister as soon as she felt that fear; Izumi, unfortunately, made a series of miss-jumps and so by the time she had arrived that fear had become just a low level sadness. Even though this change meant that she probably was no longer needed, Izumi continued on, just walking at a leisurely pace as opposed to a frantic run.

Finally seeing Usa-chan's disguised form, Izumi gave a smile and thought _ Well that explains why she is no longer in fear. _ for ChibiChibi was playing on the swings. _ Though, what was wrong in the first place? _ Izumi wondered as she reached the wood that boarded the swing's sandpit. And, then with a large smile and a wave as she stepped into the sand, Izumi called out, "Konnichiwa Usa-chan."

Seeing Izumi, ChibiChibi's mood became one of pure happiness now that her kin sister was here. Quickly bringing her swinging to a stop, she jumped off and ran towards her "big sister" calling out "Chibi!" moments before flinging herself into the other girl's arms.

Catching the little bundle of energy, Izumi gave ChibiChibi a hug before placing her back down and the ground. Then standing up, she took a hold of the little girl's hand. Letting ChibiChibi lead the two of them around the park, Izumi just walked with ChibiChibi for some minutes before she finally spoke.

"Usa-chan what's wrong?" Izumi asked

And with that question, ChibiChibi began to cry. Stopping and kneeling down beside the younger girl, Izumi said. "Don't worry your younger-self will be okay. I did as you asked and gave her the crystal dagger. She will come home to you shortly." before pulling the little girl into a hug.

When ChibiChibi finally got a hold of her tears some time later, she said, "Chibi, home don't." before launching into a new set of tears.

"Sush, its going to be okay." Izumi said as this time she just used calming words while stroking ChibiChibi's back in an attempt to calm the other girl. _ What's bothering her. I wish Usa-chan had taken a form that could talk properly. _ Izumi thought to herself as she tried to puzzle out what ChibiChibi had said.

Standing up, with ChibiChibi in her arms, Izumi began to walk around the park. While in this form Usagi had the mentality of a three year old and as such anything that could upset a three year old would upset her, Izumi was certain that something serious was bothering her kin sister. Sitting down on a bench, she finally realized what was bothering ChibiChibi. Adjusting her hold on the other girl, so that she was looking int ChibiChibi's face, she said, "Usa-chan you don't know how to get home to do you?"

Shaking her head no, ChibiChibi cried some more tears. Before taking her ChibiChibi form, Sailor Cosmos had been sure that her past-self's star seed would draw her. That star seed was a beacon of light that had drawn both her time traveling daughter and various enemies. However, Cosmos had forgotten one thing - that the star seed had been shattered and would not fully heal until her younger-self awoke. As such, ChibiChibi had found herself lost with now idea of how to find her younger-self.

"Well then you are in luck princess as I know where you live." _ Not exactly, but a phone book and then we are good. _

"Chibi?" A tentatively optimistic ChibiChibi asked.

"Hai!" Izumi said with a very reassuring smile. "Now is anything else you want to do before we leave Usa-chan?" Izumi asked.

"Chibi do?" ChibiChibi asked before suddenly nodding before slipping out of Izumi's lap and onto the ground where she proceeded to take and then taking off in a dash.

Chasing after the little girl, Izumi called out "Usa-chan wait up!" but of course the little girl did not listen and, due to her little size, she was able to navigate her way easily through the crowd of people that she had run into while Izumi was left constantly having to apologize to those that she had run into.

Finally arriving at a concession booth, Izumi caught up with ChibiChibi. Breathing heavily, she looked down at the little child and prepared to scold her. At the moment she could care less that this little girl was really Usagi once she had fully come into her powers as a Kin of the Cosmos or that a moment ago that she had been balling her eyes out. No right now all she wanted to do was pick this little girl up and give her one heck of a spanking. Choosing a little preschool girl's form was no excuse, there were plenty of better forms, such as the sentient trees that her mother preferred. However, the puppy dog eyes that ChibiChibi were giving her quickly derailed those thoughts and instead Izumi found herself buying the kid a giant stick of cotton candy, one that was just about the size of ChibiChibi.

_ Yes, mom should be very glad that she only had to play my RPG game and not deal with Usagi here. _ Izumi thought as she led the now quite content ChibiChibi out of the park. As she guided the little kid who could not see in front of her due to the large fluffy candy, she had to repeatedly fend off questions from people who kept asking her if ChibiChibi was her little sister and wanting to remark how cute ChibiChibi was.

By the time ChibiChibi and Izumi arrived at the Tsukino household ChibiChibi had managed to polish off her cotton candy, proving that she had retained her true form's appetite. As Izumi had expected, finding the house was not too difficult once she had gotten the address from a phone book, thankfully there had been only one Tsukino listed as living in the Juuban ward. They did, though, have to stop for directions a few times as Izumi did not know her way around Tokyo.

Now standing on the front porch of their destination, Izumi rang the doorbell before turning to give ChibiChibi a smile. But as she did so, she saw instead of the expected ChibiChibi two girls holding hands. _ Nani! _ thought Izumi as she rubbed her eyes to make sure that she was not seeing things. Taking a second look, she saw that her mind had just been playing tricks on her as once again their was a single little girl standing there on the porch. _ I must be more tired than I thought, if I am starting to see double. Guess that is what I get for staying up late last night playing Sailor Q._ _Though, why was one ChibiChibi's hair streaked red and silver and the other purple and silver? _ Any more thought over the trick her eyes were playing on her were forgotten when the door was opened by a blue haired lady to whom Izumi said "Konnichiwa Tsukino-san."

"Konnichiwa, I am sorry but you appear to have me at a loss." Ikuko replied

Smiling Izumi replied, "That's understandable as this is both the first time the last time that we will meet, as I am not of this universe. You can call me Izumi, like your daughter I am Kin of the Cosmos. I just wanted to let you know she will return to you before long so keep your heart up."

"Arigato, Izumi-chan." Ikuko replied "please come in."

"Iie, I have to be going. However, ChibiChibi here…"

Hearing Izumi say the name of the little girl that was with her, Ikuko remembered that strange birth certificate that had come with the documentation for ChibiUsa and Hotaru. "ChibiChibi did you say?"

"Hai, ChibiChibi here will be staying with you for a while. I can't explain why, but I expect you understand some of the reason. As for anything more, I am not allowed to say." Izumi said as she ushered ChibiChibi into the house. "Oh, I have to warn you; just before coming here she managed to get me to buy her a large stick of cotton candy. Well it was nice to meet'cha queen mother." And with that Izumi gave Ikuko a low bow before turning and taking a few steps after which she faded out of existence.

Looking down at their apparently new house guest, Ikuko looked over the little child "Well you must obviously be the ChibiChibi that we have been waiting for. After all you have the same hairstyle as the other two and after ChibiUsa I guess I am not surprised to see red hair."

For her part, ChibiChibi looked up at the tall blue haired woman who stood in front of her. She felt a little afraid now that her onee-chan, Izumi, had left. But as she looked at this new woman a distant part of her mind reassured her that she was safe with her and so after a few moments, ChibiChibi's face broke into a large smile and with a cry of "Chibi" she threw herself at this new person.

"Ikuko-chan who was at the door?" Misaki said as she stepped out the kitchen.

"You remember how I mentioned that there was another set of documents in that package that contained the documents for ChibiUsa and Hotaru?" Ikuko responded with instead.

"Hai." Misaki replied, unsure of where her sister was going with that question.

"Well that was ChibiChibi being dropped off by another girl who says that Usagi will wake up before long."

"That's great news Ikuko!" Misaki replied.

"Yes, it is. I knew that Usagi would find some way to return. After what I have seen this past year, I knew that there was no way that she could stay away for long with her daughters needing her." Ikuko replied. Then setting ChibiChibi who she was holding in her arms down on the ground, she said "And this here is ChibiChibi."

"She is so adorable!" Misaki exclaimed as her eyes went wide.

"Chibi?" ChibiChibi replied in question as she turned to look at this new person and for the one of the first times in her existence feeling the need to be elsewhere.

"ChibiChibi-chan, this is your Auntie Misaki." Ikuko said as she quickly stepped a fair number of steps away from the little girl so as not to be bowled over when her sister's restraint snapped. And Ikuko just barely cleared the danger zone when that restrain did snap and Misaki gathered ChibiChibi up into a bone crushing hug.

* * *

_ Ugh. _ Ami thought as she regained consciousness. Her mind fuzzy as to any details of what was happening, Ami remained lying for a few minutes as her thoughts straightened themselves out. _ That's right there was a demon attack and ChibiUsa was hurt. ChibiUsa! _ As the memories now came flooding back, particularly those dealing with how bad ChibiUsa was hurt, Ami sat up quickly. However, her still exhausted body was not quite ready for that motion and responded with a wave of pain to which Ami thought _ Ow, not smart. _

Now knowing that she was going to have to move slowly so as to avoid overstressing her body, Ami turned her attention to where she was. Seeing the medical supplies on the walls, the drawn curtain in front of her and of course the IV in her arm, she realized that she was in a hospital. _ Yes, that's right. I did get ChibiUsa to the medics. They must have collected me as well when I passed out. _ Now looking down at her body she noticed that she was still dressed in her street clothes, though her flak vest had been removed and was now draped across a nearby chair. _ Well that means either they do not think that I was badly injured or that they haven't had time to deal with me properly yet. _ Ami thought to herself. And given that she could not remember having taken any real hits, she leant towards the first explanation being the case.

With that decided, Ami figured that she was healthy enough to leave her bed. And while the rule abiding part of her mind reminded her that she should wait for a doctor, she was too worried about her best friend's daughter. Therefore, she carefully swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She stayed like that not moving away from the bed for some moments as waited to ascertain whether her legs would be capable of supporting her. When she felt certain enough that they would be able to support her even with their shakiness, she turned her attention to transferring her saline bag from the ceiling hook to one of the portable towers. And as she transferred the saline bag she absently noted the various additives that had been part of her prescription so that she could question her mother on them later. Now free to move about and making use of the tower as an additional support, Ami made her way out of her ER bay and into the main hallway of the ER.

Leaving her room, Ami realized that she had absolutely no idea of where to go to check on ChibiUsa – she might not even be in the ER and instead be in an operating room. Looking at her bay she noted that its number was 42 and it was not the highest numbered one that she could see. However, standing around would not help her and so Ami began to walk letting her heart lead the way. As she walked, she made to keep her face schooled with an expression of determination so as to avoid being accosted by unwanted nurses or technicians.

After turning down a couple of corridors (this particular hospital had a quite large emergency room facility) Ami knew that her heart had led her on the true path when she saw a bay seeming to overflow with various medical professionals. Now approaching more quietly so as to not be noticed, Ami stopped outside of ChibiUsa's bay on the far side of the corridor and looked in. What she saw turned her stomach and she fought hard to avoid crying out. While she had seen ChibiUsa back at the park, then her mind was too focused on the immediate to really take in how exactly how bad the girl's condition was.

Looking at ChibiUsa now, Ami could plainly see how badly burned the young girl was. Her whole front was a dark shade of red where it was not covered in puss from burst blisters or black from being charred. Thankfully the blackening appeared to be limited to ChibiUsa's extremities, which gave Ami some hope. What little clothing that had survived Hawk-Eye's attack had of course been removed by the nurses in the attempts to treat the wounds.

Now turning her attention to the other occupants of the room, partially so that she could learn what ChibiUsa's condition was and partially so that she would not loose her lunch, Ami noted that in addition to the regular medical staff there appeared to be a couple of people who were wearing robes. Instantly recognizing them as witches and wizards, Ami's hope rose. _ Maybe they will have some potion or spell that will help ChibiUsa recover quickly. _ But as Ami listened to the conversation between them and the regular doctors, that hope was crushed.

"I don't understand why the skele-grow potion is not taking effect." One of the witches said.

"Hai, not even the salve we have put on her burns seems to be working." A wizard said.

"Maybe we just need to wait longer. Her body is extremely stressed. With the IV, oxygen and the triage spells that you are using on her, her condition appears to have finally stabilized. We should, though, transfer her to an isolation ward to protect her from infection." One of the doctors this time interjected.

"You don't understand. These potions have never taken this long to take effect, even with someone as badly injured as this girl. It is almost as if she were non-magical, but the magic resonance scan returned a positive reading." The witch replied.

"Wait. That may be the problem." A different witch said, with understanding beginning to dawn.

"What do you mean?" a different doctor asked.

"All of the potions that we have been giving her rely on her own innate magic to trigger them. Now the level of magic required is so small that as long as you are magical they will work. However, it has been hypothesized that if one's magic core was to be burned out that they would still test positive for resonance but that they would have insufficient magic in them to activate anything in our world." The nurse replied in response.

"But that is preposterous, nothing can collapse a magic core and especially not injuries no matter how severe they are."

"That may be true to for humans, but not for our kind." Ami's weak voice said interjecting into the discussion. Suddenly finding herself the focus of attention, Ami blushed realizing that she was probably going to be scolded real soon for leaving her bed. However, focusing instead on ChibiUsa, she explained her comment. "I don't know all of how magic works for the witch and wizards of Earth, but our power is different it directly feeds into our soul and from there to how we command it. While she is not a Sailor Senshi, the nourishment for her soul is too small, she is otherwise likes us." As Ami spoke, half formed thoughts that she had been developing as a result of her lessons with Rei in addition to her own scans of Usagi when she was "sick" and of herself began to coalesce into a much firmer understanding of what a Sailor Senshi was and how their powers were used.

"The reason why we are able to take such severe punishment and to heal quickly is not so much because our bodies are more resilient than those of normal people, though they are that, but because we have the power that is ours to call to keep our soul alive when our bodies are mortally wounded and to then rebuild our body afterwards. While with us Sailor Senshi we have the power of our guardian planets to call upon, ChibiUsa only had the dieing powers of the Moon to protect her. Powers that were likely fully spent keeping her alive from something that should have killed her outright."

"But that would mean…" one of the nurses began.

"Hai, her magic core as you call it will never recover as there is no longer a reservoir for her to call on." Ami said with loss clearly written on her face. "If I still had my powers, I may have been able to infuse her body and trigger those potions. But even if I call one of the others, I am afraid that her body is too weakened to take the strain."

"But if her body were to strengthen enough? There are old spells from back when potion making was unreliable that we could use in conjunction with your healing technology in this hospital. They should be able to support her body if her will is strong enough to fight back and not give in. It will take a team of healers to administer them, but now that we know what we have to do we can't give up." The first wizard said

"In that case I will have orders immediately drawn up for transferring her to the AMT unit. The more strain that we can remove from her body the better her chances." one of the doctors said.

Now smiling a small smile of hope that ChibiUsa would be okay, Ami turned her attention away from the doctors. She hoped that they at least let her stay long enough to see ChibiUsa moved before they sent her back to her bed. _ What's that? _ Ami thought as her current line of thoughts was distracted. Turning her head to get a better view, she saw that it was a butterfly. _ How did that get in here? _ Ami wondered.

As she watched, the how became quickly apparent when it fluttered through a solid wall as if it was not there. With her attention fully occupied on this apparently magical butterfly, Ami watched as it slowly made its way down the ER towards her. As it got closer Ami noticed that it had a very unusual shifting violet color. When the butterfly headed into ChibiUsa's bay, Ami was not surprised, having already expected that somehow that butterfly's presence was associated with ChibiUsa.

The arrival of the butterfly naturally surprised and disturbed the medical staff given how sensitive ChibiUsa's condition was. However, their attempts to bat it away proved fruitless when clipboards passed cleanly through it and it managed to bob out of the way just in time to avoid any spell sent its way. Seeming to not take notice of its unwanted status, the butterfly soon made its way to ChibiUsa's chest where it landed in the spot where ChibiUsa's fuku chest bow would have lain.

When the butterfly touched down, it seemed to melt into ChibiUsa's chest and as it did so a circle of violet and golden energy began to expand out from its entry site. As that energy expanded to encompass the body of the battered girl, everyone watched on in amazement as the girl's injuries began to melt before their very eyes. Blisters cleared up and vanished, while charred skin flaked off to reveal pink skin below and ChibiUsa's chest began to rise and fall more firmly and without any sounds of labored breath.

Ami was the first one to recover, having seen something like this before; though, not to such an extreme. _ Hotaru, but how? _ she silently asked herself as she sat down on a thankfully nearby gurney and began to scan ChibiUsa with her computer. Seeing the results of her scan she gave a large sigh of relief as the computer began to overlay them with the previous reading taken that afternoon. It appeared that the worst of ChibiUsa's had been healed. There, however, was still a large amount of first and second degree burns on the girl's body, a bone remained broken and others badly bruised, and a good chunk of ChibiUsa's hair was likely to be a lost cause.

However, even with what she knew of Hotaru's healing gift, Ami was still stunned that it had healed this much of ChibiUsa's injuries. No matter how strong Hotaru now was without that demon siphoning her energy; she could not have done this on her own. _ But those potions they gave her could have. ChibiUsa needed a jump start to get them active and my readings do show that her body still has a good amount of Saturn's energy left in it. Hotaru did what I could not and with her healing powers she was able to make sure that the infusion process did not hurt her. _ Ami finally realized.

Ami quickly relayed her conclusions to the doctors and healers and while they were a bit skeptical they did agree that it made the most sense. When the healers performed some further tests to examine ChibiUsa's magic levels and the status of the administered potions more credence was lent to Ami's theory. Once they had determined the why, the healers went back to healing the rest of ChibiUsa's wounds. However, realizing that healing ChibiUsa too much might give things away, Ami instructed them to just make sure nothing critical was missed and then to let the regular doctors finish patching ChibiUsa up.

Of course the moment that Ami finished giving directions, one of the nurses got a hold of her and very firmly escorted her back to her own bed while admonishing Ami for being reckless, even if she was likely to be discharged when her doctor saw her – a doctor who had been quite perplexed to find Ami's bed empty.

* * *

Osaka Abe had expected to spend a pleasant relaxing evening at home whose only highlight was to be dinner for which her daughter's new friend, ChibiUsa, would be over for. She was just getting ready to close up shop so as to begin dinner preparation when her plans were thrown right out the window with the arrival of a pair of military officers at her store. At first she had thought that maybe one of them was here to buy an engagement ring with the second providing moral support; however, as she had turned to great them their solemn expressions had killed her unspoken words of greeting.

Learning that Naru had been involved in a demon attack nearly gave her a heart attack. And even as she felt her body going weak, they took action to help her, being well trained in grief consoling. Once they had gotten her seated, they had explained that Naru had only suffered minor injuries. But that ChibiUsa was not so lucky. When they asked her to accompany them to the military hospital, she quickly agreed.

Now sitting here in the waiting room, she waited nervously with her daughter, who had been released soon after her arrival. She had been ready to go home then, but Naru was not willing to leave until she got word on ChibiUsa's condition and so they waited. As she waited, her mind reviewed what she knew of the little girl that her daughter had befriended and wondered how much tragedy that that child would be forced to bear. While she only knew vague generalities of ChibiUsa's situation, she did know that ChibiUsa had lost her home and family, which was what had brought her to Tokyo, and then there was the accident that had claimed Usagi this past spring. She prayed that ChibiUsa would recover, having been informed by the hospital staff that they were not optimistic with her chances of survival. This being reason why she was willing to stay here overnight if it took that long to learn if ChibiUsa would make it.

Given the shocks that Abe had suffered it is not surprising that she had of yet failed to take notice that neither Ikuko nor Kenji were here. Even though ChibiUsa had yet to worm her way into her heart, Abe was still devastated to hear how badly ChibiUsa had been injured, which was further magnified when she realized that it could easily have been her daughter as well. As for the hospital personal, with only sketchy reports to go on with what happened and no ID left intact on ChibiUsa, they had just assumed that the two girls were related, especially with how concerned the older one was for the younger one.

Her admittance to the ER was at the insistence of the medics who had wanted her checked out after having been a victim twice. While she might normally have insisted that she was okay, she was shell shocked over what had happened to ChibiUsa and so let herself be escorted to the ambulance without any hassle. Her concern for ChibiUsa was obvious to the medics during the drive to the hospital, so they explained that a medevac had collected ChibiUsa and transported her by air earlier. But as the ambulance weaved its way through the traffic, they were able to calm her down.

However, all of that calming was for naught as within moments of arriving at the ER, Naru overheard elements of frenzied discussion between various medical personal as the ER staff attempted to save ChibiUsa's life. Hearing how bad ChibiUsa was, Naru had completely broke down and it was a good thing she was already strapped to a gurney as she would have collapsed to the ground otherwise. Seeing Naru's reaction, the doctor that was taking receipt of her had called for grief consoling in conjunction with a suicide watch.

However, as if someone above knew her soul needed some support, Father Morgan who had been having a twisted ankle taken a look at, walked by the bay she had been placed in on his way out. Recognizing her voice, he had entered and come to her side and with his help she was once again able to regain control of her emotions and before long the suicide watch was canceled. Even so, Morgan remained with Naru up through she was released to her mother and even now waited with the two of them in the waiting room. And as they waited he wondered how fortuitous it was that he had slipped, fallen and twisted his ankle in front of this particular hospital on this particular day.

It was nearly three hours after Abe's arrival when a doctor entered the waiting room with news of ChibiUsa. "Osaka-san?" he asked as he walked up beside where she was sitting.

"Hai?" Abe replied.

"I am Machi Yuji; your daughter is going to be just fine. With the help of the Sailor Senshi we have managed to heal the worst of her wounds. Even still she has a badly bruised forearm and some serious burns that will have to be carefully cared for to avoid infection."

"My daughter?" a confused Abe replied. "But, Naru is…"

"You mean ChibiUsa?" Naru asked interrupting her mother.

"Hai, she's not your daughter?" The doctor asked, now confused himself.

"That's right; she is a friend of the family. But Naru seems to be raising her almost as if she were her little sister or maybe even daughter." Abe said feeling great relief in learning that ChibiUsa was going to be okay, which allowed her to even make light of what had been bothering her earlier today – how focused Naru had become with taking care of ChibiUsa.

That comment about her acting as if she were ChibiUsa's mother caused Naru's face to go pale, but thankfully neither of the doctor nor her mother noticed, though Father Morgan did. "Can I see her?" Naru asked.

"In a little bit, they need to transfer her to the observation area first." The doctor said, then turning back to Abe he continued. "If you are not ChibiUsa's mother, then could you provide us with the contact information for her mother?"

"That won't be necessary doctor." A young female voice said from behind the doctor.

Recognizing the voice as Ami's, Naru's spirit perked up. Lifting her head to look past the doctor she saw a grinning but quite tired looking Ami who was holding ChibiUsa in her arms.

Crying out "ChibiUsa-chan!," Naru practically teleported over to Ami and took ChibiUsa into her own arms. Carefully holding ChibiUsa close to her bosom so as to not aggravate the young girl's wounds, Naru allowed her body to relax in the warm feeling that she felt when ChibiUsa proceeded to hug her. Now for the first time Naru understood why Usagi seemed to have an extra lift in her step ever since ChibiUsa's arrival. But then pushing aside that warmth, she began to rapidly apologize to both ChibiUsa and Ami.

"Onee-chan stop!" ChibiUsa finally yelled out weakly. Then seeing that she had gotten the older girl's attention she continued, "It's okay, you did nothing wrong. No need to apologize." The last part, ChibiUsa said as she dropped back off to sleep while also snuggling in tight to Naru's embrace.

"Naru, ChibiUsa is correct there is nothing for you to apologize for. You have all of our thanks for watching over the princess. If anyone is at fault, it is us for not being there fast enough."

"Ami-chan, it's not your fault that I was attacked and you can't be with me all the time."

"If we who are soldiers are not at fault, then how can you a civilian be at fault?" Ami asked with a smile, knowing that she had trapped Naru with her logic.

"Hai, you're right, I guess." Naru admitted. Then gazing down at ChibiUsa, she smiled. _ Usagi must be stronger than she looks as my arms are already starting to get tired from holding ChibiUsa. I better sit down for a bit so that I don't drop her. _

"Your friend is right Naru-san. You cannot take the blame for the challenges that are being placed in front of the warrior angels as the darkness makes its last stand against the light. Be strong for the task that the Lord has set out for you." Farther Morgan said. As he spoke he looked at Ami when he spoke of the warrior angels and then at ChibiUsa as he mentioned the task that had been laid out in front of her.

"Hai, you're right as well. Arigato, Father Morgan. You have helped me again."

"It is my purpose Naru-san. Remember that my door is always open for you if you need to talk, no matter the time of day or right. A friend of the savoir is always welcomed." Morgan said before bowing lightly and taking his leave.

Watching the priest leave, Machi turned his attention to Ami, not at all happy that ChibiUsa had been brought out here when she should still be under observation. He was not one of the ER doctors who had worked to stabilize ChibiUsa's condition, those doctors were currently getting some much deserved rest; but was, instead, one of the doctors of the observation area to which ChibiUsa was currently supposed to be transferred to. Consequently, he had no idea who Ami was, thinking her to be just some punk ass soldier who had no idea what she was doing.

As such Machi turned to Ami and demanded "You young lady authority do you have to take a patient out from the ER. That girl is nowhere ready to be released."

If Machi had been expecting Ami to flinch with his words, he was disappointed as Ami weathered his harshly asked question and just defiantly looked back at him with steadfast eyes, seemingly challenging him to try to do something.

"Machi-san let the matter drop." A second doctor who had followed Ami out into the waiting area said, making his presence known.

"What do you mean? That child is in no condition to be out here."

"She has been formally released. One of the Sailor Senshi has requested her release and unless you want to take it up with the director, Osaka Naru is free to take ChibiUsa home with her.

"Wait you mean that you are releasing ChibiUsa into my daughter's care?" Abe asked.

"Hai. Sailor Mercury did not explain any further than to say that Osaka Naru is a very close friend of ChibiUsa's mother. Now Naru-san if you would mind signing some forms we can let you get on your way." The second doctor said before escorting Naru who had returned ChibiUsa to Ami's arms for the moment away from her stunned mother so as to take care of the paperwork.

* * *

When the foursome arrived home at the Osaka residence thirty minutes later, the first question out of Abe's mouth when they entered into living quarters was, "Naru, I hope that you have a very good explanation for what is going on."

Now with the scare over, the concerns that had been building over the past few weeks from how close ChibiUsa and Naru were surfaced. She already had been getting fairly concerned when she found a copy of ChibiUsa's report card while cleaning Naru's room and then the words that were being exchanged this evening spoke of even more questions.

"That she does, and I will explain it to you." Ami said.

Turning to face the blue haired classmate of Naru, Abe regarded the girl with an intense gaze before asking "While I appreciate your offer to tell me what is going on I would like to hear my own daughter explain herself. While I do that you may want to call your parents to let them know where you are."

"Iie." Ami firmly replied getting Abe's full undivided attention. "It is not Naru's story to tell, limited as she is by her promises. I will explain to you what is relevant for you to know. While I do that Naru can look after her imouto, the princess."

Hearing the dismissal in Ami's voice and knowing that she had been assigned a task, Naru quickly left the growing confrontation and made her way to her room. _ Imouto, onee-chan? _ Naru thought to herself a little while later as she carefully laid ChibiUsa down on the bed. _ And its now not just ChibiUsa, but Ami as well and she was speaking as Sailor Mercury back there. _ Naru's thoughts continued as she began to realize that Ami really did not hold any hard feelings against her. _ Well it's too late for dinner now; though I am guessing that Ami will answer mom's questions. Guess I should get ChibiUsa ready for bed. After that I can see if she wants something light to eat before bed. _ With that decided, Naru first looked for some clothing that would do well as make shift clothing before rousing ChibiUsa and helping the younger girl get changed. With her burns and the "bruised" arm that was really broken, ChibiUsa needed a fair bit of help to get herself changed and as expected ChibiUsa being her mother's daughter was not at all interested in going to bed without first eating.

* * *

As Naru was taking care of ChibiUsa, Abe and Ami were staring down each other. While Abe knew some about Ami from what Naru had described to her, she had never met the girl before today and was quickly wondering who Naru had been describing as this was definitely no meek bookworm girl. And, Ami's defiance was further enhanced by the dirtied school uniform and the open flak vest that she was wearing; though, thankfully for Abe Ami did not have her rifle with her and her sidearm was tucked away in her subspace pocket.

"Osaka-san I apologize for my disrespect but there are substantial facts that have been kept from you. There is a good reason for why they have been kept from you, one that I hope that you will understand and there are reasons why I will be limited by what I can explain. All I ask is that you please hear me out first before forming opinions." Ami said deciding to offer an olive branch.

"I will listen for now Mizuno-chan, but understand I am quite shocked with how you have been acting. I imagine you have been through a lot this afternoon given that you were also caught up in that demon attack, but that only gives you some allowance."

"Hai, as we have never been formally introduced, I guess it would be best to start from there. I am Mizuno Ami, a reborn soldier from the remains of a kingdom that once stretched across this solar system and protected the Earth. By the course of destiny, I have been granted the power of my guardian star, the ice planet Mercury, to protect my princess, Her Highness, Princess Serenity of the Moon, and to aid her in her task of protecting the people of the earth." As Ami spoke these words, the sigil of Mercury glowed brightly on her forehead and Abe reluctantly accepted that a veteran warrior and not a child stood before her. Then continuing without quite the previous presence, Ami said, "My princess you know as both Sailor Moon and Tsukino Usagi, Naru's best friend."

Holding up her hand to cut off Abe's attempted interruption, Ami continued. "I, my fellow guardians, the Sailor Senshi, and our princess are the reborn souls from a kingdom that fell a thousand years ago. We were reborn without memory of who we had been, but when the evil that had been sealed away awoke our slumbering souls awoke as well so as to protect this world. To protect our loved ones, we have kept our true selves hidden from all but those that circumstances have forced as to confide in. Know this, if needed each of us would willingly give our lives to save that of another and this past spring Usagi did just that to thwart an evil that threatened to destroy the entire universe. She now lies in a stasis crystal essentially dead.

"The responsibility that we have been entrusted with extends even to protecting time itself. In carrying out this responsibility, Usagi's daughter from the future has been trapped here in the past unable to ever return home, a daughter that you know as ChibiUsa." Then seeing the gasp of surprise and understanding on Naru's mother's face, Ami continued, "A child who has in essence lost her mother twice in about six months time, a loss that was further exasperated by her best friend losing herself to her own grief and running away.

"Your daughter has provided ChibiUsa finally with an outlet that will allow her to heal her broken heart. Of all of us, Naru was the closest to Usagi and in her acceptance ChibiUsa finds absolution for what has happened to her mother. In their friendship the two of them are helping to heal each other's hearts and to grieve for their loss." Then pausing to let what she said sink in, Ami continued this time in a stern tone, "Know this, the princess has requested that Osaka Naru be her big sister and whatever Naru's decision may be as long as it comes from her heart, it will be respected by us. And if we need to intervene so as to allow Osaka Naru to act as a big sister to her highness Princess Chiba Tsukino Usagi Lady Serenity then we will do so."

Abe opened her mouth to ask a question, but was unable to formulate one from the multitude of thoughts that were running through her mind. While many of the thoughts were questions over what she had just learned others were outrage from how Ami was in essence talking down to her and in so doing showing substantial disrespect to that of an elder.

"I know it is getting late and it will be better if you have the night to think over what I have said. I will come by tomorrow night and will then answer your questions. Don't worry about ChibiUsa I will let her grandparents know where she is, they have already been told of her condition." And with that Ami took her leave.

Abe stood standing there for some minutes after the door closed, not quite sure what to do now that her world had been turned upside down. Finally hearing some noise behind her, she turned and saw Naru leaving her room and heading to the kitchen.

"I am going to fix some cinnamon toast for ChibiUsa. She may be hurt, but like Usagi that hasn't done much to her appetite." Naru said as she saw her mother's questioning look.

"Naru, why are you doing this?" Abe decided to ask after a moment.

"Taking care of ChibiUsa?" Naru asked. Seeing her mother's nod, she continued, "The pain from losing Usagi is less when I am with ChibiUsa. Helping her also makes me less guilty for not having been able to do more for Usagi this past year. Also I know if our roles were reversed, she would have done the same for any child of mine no matter how hard it might have been for her."

Letting her daughter go, Abe thought about what Naru had said. For the first time since she had first started to notice how close the two girls had been getting, she thought that maybe this wasn't such a bad thing. She still had many questions for that Mizuno girl and she was still quite displeased with how she had been treated, but she also knew that this was the best therapy for her daughter. Abe only wished she realized how much Naru had been hurting from Usagi's loss. Tonight as Naru explained why she was taking care of ChibiUsa she was finally able to see that hurt in Naru's eyes, which her mind superimposed on how Naru's eyes twinkled on those days that she spent with ChibiUsa.

-End Chapter

The name for Naru's mother is based on Michiko Abe who voices her in the anime

The name for the doctor comes from the VA for Tsukino Kenji

I also want to thank Ethan who besides helping me with my Gundam Seed fic is also with chapter helping me with this story as well. For those of you who are Gundam Seed fans, please be sure to check out "The Archangel of Peace." This story, however, will still be my primary focus.

The reference to Ranma being a violinist is a nod towards the wonderful fic: "Genma's Daughter" by Deborah Goldsmith

I appologize for the long delay, but life, getting quite sick a week ago (who would have thought a stomach bug could keep you down for almost a week after it was gone), and the busy course loads of my reviewers have all attributed to the delay. But I hope it was worth it

And as for a good time waster while you wait for the next chapter, check out MegaTokyo which is a great online comic/magna.


	8. Chapter 7: A Star Betrayed?

**Chapter 7: "A Star Betrayed?"  
**First Posted: 09/15/07  
Last Edited: 09/15/07  
Note: This version has only been reviewed by one of my two editors. However, based on all of the PMs and emails that I have been getting, I figured it was past time to post.

Disclaimer: A reminder, I own none of the characters of this story, all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only so freely and inform me of where you post it.

-------------------------------------------

The morning following the incident in the park found ChibiUsa curled up against Naru as she slept while Naru for her part slept on her back with her left arm lightly wrapped around ChibiUsa's small body. The two of them lay like that until Naru's alarm sounded. Only partially awake as she attempted to sit up, Naru was momentarily puzzled by the unexpected weight on her stomach until she remembered that ChibiUsa was with her. Looking down at the younger girl, she simply thought _ ChibiUsa-chan. _ with a smile. Then turning to look at her alarm clock she decided that waking ChibiUsa could wait for a few minutes and so she laid back down in bed.

Laying there and listening to the music of her alarm clock as it played, Naru brought her right hand on over to ChibiUsa and began to absently run it through the girl's hair. For Naru this was a new experience and one that she finding that she very much enjoyed. There was just something about having a child who looked to her for warmth and protection curled up against her body and it gave her an indescribable warmth. _ This must be what Usagi-chan feels. _ she thought as sighed in contentment.

However, for as much as Naru might have wanted to stay in bed with ChibiUsa curled up at her side, today was a school day and she would be late if they did not get up soon. Finally deciding that she had a long enough lie in when the DJ reported the weather for the second time, Naru began to gently shake ChibiUsa while saying, "Time to get up ChibiUsa-chan."

"Just five more minutes." ChibiUsa mumbled as she tried to snuggle in tighter against Naru.

_Like mother, like daughter, ne_ Naru thought to herself with a chuckle before saying, "Sorry ChibiUsa-chan, but unlike Usagi-chan, I actually get up on time in the morning. So ups a daisy." And with that Naru sat herself while at the same time picking up the sleeping child and pulling her into her lap.

Then once Naru saw that ChibiUsa had finished blinking herself awake, she asked, "How are you feeling?" in a concerned voice.

"My arm hurts." ChibiUsa replied with a down turned expression as she gently cradled her sore arm with the unhurt one.

Internally wincing as she had forgotten about ChibiUsa injuries in pulling the young girl into her lap, Naru took some measure of comfort in the fact that her actions had not caused ChibiUsa to complain. Knowing that she could make any wounds that she had aggravated hurt by just mentioning the possibility that she had done so, Naru decided to avoid mentioning her indiscretion for the moment and instead said, "Well once you are dressed and have had some breakfast you can take one of the pain killers that the doctors prescribed for you. But first let's check that brace of yours." Naru said with a comforting voice as she proceeded to carefully make sure that ChibiUsa's arm brace was still properly affixed. _ Wish I knew why they didn't just give her a cast. I don't like this brace. _ Naru thought to herself as she worried about the potential for ChibiUsa's arm to be more severely broken.

"Okay it looks good." Naru replied after satisfying herself that nothing had slipped as a result of last night's slumber. "Now let's get those bandages of yours changed. This is probably going to hurt some more, but you have been a brave girl so far." Naru said as she took ChibiUsa's hand and led the younger girl to the bathroom.

Back during her first trip to the past, ChibiUsa would have taken offense to Naru's condescending speech, but now she welcomed those words. A major part of the reason why she now welcomed those words was because of how much she needed a mother or at least a big sister figure and a second part was a result of how ChibiUsa had matured since she had been inadvertently deposited in that dumpster. Slipping off her nightshirt so that Naru could get at the bandages, ChibiUsa did her best to keep from crying while she wondered why she no longer had the strength that she once had to face her problems alone. That first time she had come back, she had after all been essentially alone until she had learned that Usagi was Sailor Moon. But as she collapsed into Naru's arms to sob once the older girl had finished her work, she knew that she wouldn't trade any of this and that she enjoyed being babied.

Holding the sobbing little girl in her arms, Naru simply stoked ChibiUsa's back for a few moments before she very carefully gathered the young girl up in her arms. Leaving the bathroom, she headed back to her room, but paused at the threshold of the room. Normally she would get dressed before breakfast, but in thinking about ChibiUsa she figured that waiting till after ChibiUsa ate and was able to take the pain killer might be best.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Abe was sitting at the table eating her breakfast and reading the morning paper when Naru came down the stairs. She silently observed as Naru gently sat the young girl down in one of the chairs and checked to make sure that pink haired girl was okay before going to fetch the two of them some breakfast. As Abe had already cooked the hot portion of breakfast, it was not long before Naru returned with dishes for herself and ChibiUsa.

While sleep had reduced her uneasiness with the situation that Naru was in, Abe still was unsure if she wanted her daughter to be caught up in all of this, whatever this was. But in watching her daughter interact with that child, she couldn't help but be proud of Naru. There were still quite a many questions left over from last night that she wanted to ask, but she found herself unable to break the moment that was being created by Naru's fussing over ChibiUsa.

Breakfast for the three began in relative silence with Abe unsure of how to start asking her questions and Naru not looking forward to facing her mother's questions, especially after the way that Ami had talked back to her mother last night. The silence was finally broken when ChibiUsa having taken the edge off her hunger by eating half of her breakfast decided to thank her host as any proper young lady should.

"Arigato, Osaka-san for letting me stay her last night." ChibiUsa said.

"You're more than welcome. After what happened to you last night, I could not with good conscience separate you from Naru." Abe said. Of course initially that was exactly what she had planned on doing, but now after having had time for Mizuno Ami's words along with yesterday's events to fully sink in, she had realized with guilt how wrong those initial desires had been. Thankfully, Ami had the internal fortitude that a soldier needed with regard to standing up for what was right. Putting those thoughts aside, Abe continued with, "So your mom is Usagi-chan?"

"Hai." ChibiUsa said proudly. "Though, I am from a future. Oka-san is a wonderful queen and I want to be just like her when I grow up."

"Queen?" Abe exclaimed without thought, as the very thought of Usagi and royalty of any sort horribly clashed in her mind, driving out what Sailor Mercury had said the previous evening.

"Of the entire world no less."Naru added with a smile. "It was a bit shocking for me too when I learned, but after first suspecting and then knowing that she was Sailor Moon it was not really that surprising. Usagi-chan is still the same person mom; she just has the power to protect all of us."

As much as Abe wanted to be fair to Usagi and to give her the benefit of the doubt as she was sure that Naru's friend would mature into a fine woman, she still was unable to picture Usagi as a politician much less a queen. But then she couldn't really reconcile what she knew of Usagi with her being a heroine either. While yes, Abe had no trouble with Usagi wanting to be able to help, she knew the girl's heart all too well; it was Usagi's ability to risk her own life and to be successful at it that she couldn't fathom, too many memories of thunderstorms and Usagi klutzing out over the years coming to mind.

"Oka-san may be a ditz, but she is Sailor Moon." ChibiUsa said with pride in her voice as she saw Abe's disbelieving look, which was mirroring the impression that she had developed of Usagi during that first trip to the past.

Hearing the obvious pride that ChibiUsa held for her mother, Abe asked, "Why don't you tell me about her." Her question was asked partially to help put the young girl further at ease after what had happened the other day and also because part of her knew that she might also learn something that Sailor Mercury might otherwise not tell her.

"Maybe later, we still have school to go to." Naru said. However, she really did not want to go to school today after what had happened yesterday and the fact that she especially did not want to give up looking after ChibiUsa quite yet was quite evident in her voice.

"I have already taken care of that." Abe replied. "I figured that you probably wouldn't be feeling too great today and so called you in sick. I have also talked with Usagi's mom this morning and we agreed that it would be best if ChibiUsa stayed home for at least today. She will be by later this morning to pick up ChibiUsa, but figured that the two of you would like some time together this morning first." Then turning back to ChibiUsa, Abe said once again, "So tell me about Sailor Moon."

"Sailor Moon is the most powerful of all of the Sailor Senshi and always wins..." ChibiUsa said as she began by reciting some of the stories that her father had told her when she was growing up.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Hiroshi sat in his small office that was cluttered with stacks of paper, reports, and catalogs. He had only recently been transferred from his previous position of managing large defense contracts worth tens of millions of yen a piece to this new posting in Japan's new International Techno-magic Research Facility, ITRF, and already his office looked like his previous one that he had occupied for a half dozen years. A good portion of that was the reason why he had been given this posting, which at first glance might seem to be a demotion for a logistics officer of his level, that reason of course being the almost fevered desire of the brass to begin equipping the troops with new equipment developed from the integration of technology, magic, and the knowledge of the Sailor Senshi.

Anyone in R&D would tell you that things like this took time, after all the three sides first needed to learn about what each other could contribute before any meaningful integration could begin. Unfortunately, they did not have that time. In the same way as the American Manhattan Project during the Second World War ran on negative time, so did the work of this facility. Each additional day that it took to outfit their troops gave the enemy another day in which to fight. Thankfully unlike the Second World War, fatalities in the battles were so far rare. But they also knew that this was just the front wave, they had all been given the briefing that had been put together from the intelligence that Sailor Erion had provided. No matter what, they were not going to let themselves be unprepared when Sailor Galaxia arrived.

As of now just two new weapons had been developed, the needle rounds that Sailor Mercury had combat tested the previous day and a set of flachet, exploding shrapnel, rounds. The initial testing data for those weapons looked promising and Hiroshi looked forward to reading Mercury's after action report on how the weapon handled. Even though he had already green-lighted full production of the two weapons, the paper work still needed to be filled out, even if it was done after the fact. However, before mass production could truly begin, a complication still needed to be worked out. Apparently, due to their ability to use magic, the Industrial Revolution had essentially bypassed the magical communities and as a result the vary concept of mass production was a foreign concept to the wizards. Currently, a team of wizards had to make each individual magical rifle or grenade round, severely restricting their supply. When Sailor Mercury had headed out to battle the previous day, she had taken all of their needle point rifle ammunition rounds with her, an unacceptable situation.

There, of course, was always the option of just deploying combined wizard and JSDF detachments. That had actually been the preferred solution, with the stipulation of still upgrading normal weapons to technomagic weaponry. Unfortunately, the wizards that had been involved in those war games had absolutely no combat skills and were "killed" within moments of the start of any exercises and to make matters worse, trying to teach them to do things the muggle way was like teach a pig to fly. While some of the younger wizards and witches were willing to learn, slowly, the vast majority refused to even listen, even after some pointed demonstrations from one of the Sailor Senshi. That Sailor of course being Erion, who spent a fair bit of her time helping to train the troops over at Zima, not that Hiroshi could remember her name.

Sighing at the stubbornness of people who were unwilling to learn and adapt, something that he had seen all too often in his line of work, Hiroshi turned the page in the report he was reading. One would think that given the size of contracts that he had had been previously responsible for overseeing that he would see less arrogance at that level as loosing one of those contracts could cripple a company, but that was not the case. And, the report that he was reading was not helping to improve on his initial opinion of the magical community, he was finding far too many delays and missed opportunities. Picking up the phone, he called his administrative assistant and said, "Get me Azrael." before tossing the progress review report for the entire facility onto his desk.

A few minutes later Azrael, after striding into Hiroshi's office as if he was gracing the major with his presence, said with obvious disdain in his voice, "Major Hiroshi you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, in reviewing the progress of integrating magic into our armed forces so that we can better face this demon threat, I have come across some items that concern me quite a bit and I was hoping that you could shine some light on them for me. For starters, some of the after action reports have indicated that Shinto priests and priestesses might be capable of containing the demons. However, from your group of wizards all that I have is a one page report stating that there is no reason to pursue this avenue."

"That is correct. These Shinto priests and priestesses are just muggles, they have no magic capability. There is nothing to investigate."

"And what about the Sailor Senshi?"

"We have not figured out what is giving them their power. But they must have a talisman of some sort. What has happened with the so called Sailor Mercury is a perfect example. If she were a real witch, then it would not be possible for her to have lost her powers. At most they may be some kind of magical creature, but they are definitely not witches." Azrael replied with a tone that clearly indicated that he considered the Sailor Senshi to be far below him on the evolutionary totem pole.

_It's like talking to a brick wall. _ Hiroshi thought to himself _ Their irrational belief in their own superiority blinds them to any option that does not fit into their world view. _ Knowing that he was not going to get anywhere talking with this wizard anymore, he said, "Thanks for your time Azrael, you may leave."

Watching as the obtuse wizard left his office Hiroshi knew that his first recommendation to the General would be to evaluate all of the wizards who had been assigned to the facility and to purge those who were too idealistic to consider the full range of options. They could not afford to have racist wizards in a time of war. Besides that they were also going to need to jump start the neglected elements of the program. Originally, all paranormal aspects of the program had been assigned to the wizard division, under the assumption that the wizards would know those fields the best, but as Hiroshi had come to learn in the past few days that had resulted in some fields, such as holy magic, being utterly ignored. Even if holy magic was not as "strong" as regular magic or was restricted to be useful only against demons, every little bit would help them. They were, after all, not in a position to be choosers.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Like any other jewelry store, the daily lunch "hour" from approximately 11:30 till shortly before 1 was peak retail time for Osa-P, with salary men stopping by on their lunch breaks to buy a gift for their significant other. As much as Abe would have liked today to have been an exception it was just as busy as any other day and it was not till almost 2 that things had slowed down sufficiently that she could think about getting lunch for herself. While lunch breaks for her staff had begun at 1, she was always the last one to break for lunch for she believed that with seniority came responsibility and so allowed her staff to break in reverse order of their seniority. When it finally came her time for lunch, Abe was gathering her purse when she heard jingle of bell's announcing the arrival of a new customer. Having perfect faith that her employees would, like every other day, be able to function in her absence; Abe did not take notice of who entered and instead thought about what she wanted to eat for lunch .

Seeing that her friend was in her own little world, Ikuko, who had just entered the store, called "Abe-san." Ikuko had first met Abe back when Usagi and Naru were in nursery school together and over the years the two of them had struck up a strong friendship of their own.

Briefly startled by Ikuko's voice, Abe looked up and asked, "Ikuko-san what brings you here?"

"I thought I would come by and see how you were doing after yesterday. Ami-chan told me what happened." was Ikuko's perfectly natural reply.

That's right, Usagi is supposed to be ChibiUsa's mother and the one who the Sailor Senshi fight for. Abe reminded herself, still having trouble believing and making sense of all that she had learned in the past 18 hours. "Arigato Ikuko-san, Ami-chan only gave me a basic overview last night, but even that is hard to fathom."

Smiling, knowing how overwhelming it was for herself, Ikuko replied, "Hai, just imagined how I felt when Usagi decided to dump all of that on me and Kenji when ChibiUsa arrived."

"At least you had a family meeting for when you learned the truth. I was so worried about trying to convince them that they could trust me to keep their confidence that it took me a few moments to realize that one of them was my own daughter." Reika, who had entered the store along with Ikuko, said speaking up for the first time.

Looking over at the new voice, Abe frowned slightly as she tried to place the blue haired lady's face, which seemed somewhat familiar, but with no luck.

"Forgive me." Ikuko said as she realized that she had forgotten to introduce Reika to Abe. "Abe-san this is Mizuno Reika, Ami-chan's mother." Then turning to Reika, "Reika-san this is Osaka Abe, Naru-chan's mother."

Now clearly able to see the mother-daughter resemblance, Abe wondered how she had missed realizing that this woman was Ami's mother, especially after Ikuko brought up yesterday's incident. "It is an honor to be able to meet you, Mizuno-san." Abe said, "I must apologize for my behavior to your daughter last night. I was disrespectful of her position and duties."

"You need not worry Osaka-san. My daughter is more concerned with how you are handling the truths that she revealed last night. And, please call me Reika-san."

"Arigato Reika-san and please call me Abe-san."

Ikuko smiled as she saw that Abe and Reika were beginning to take to each other. She imagined that her friend probably still had some issues with the situation, but hoped that by the end of lunch that she would no longer be thinking ill of Ami anymore. "Well now that introductions are out of the way, we can do what we originally came here for. Abe-san, would you care to join us for lunch?"

"Hai." Abe replied, knowing that with both Ami's mother and Ikuko here that they obviously had planned on having lunch with her and anyways she hoped that she might be able to learn some more of the truths about the Sailor Senshi.

When Ami had returned the previous night, Reika had thoroughly questioned her daughter on what had happened. Unlike Abe who had spent the evening in the hospital's waiting room and cut off from the news, Reika had heard the news reports of the incident. The reports had not been very encouraging; her anxiety level had been kept somewhat in check by the limited amount of damage that had occurred. However, learning that someone had been transported to the hospital and was in critical condition coupled with Ami having yet to check in had set her on edge. The military of course attempted to keep ChibiUsa's condition confidential, but enough had still managed to leak out for everyone to know that a girl was severely injured.

During past incidents, Reika had always been able to assure herself that Ami would be okay because of the magic that protected her. However, with Ami's loss of her powers, Reika no longer had that security blanket and now she fretted each time there was a demon attack, knowing that her daughter would not stand aside. That was a side of Ami that did not exist before the child genius met Usagi. Through her friendship with Usagi, Ami had found a determination that would serve her well and Reika had no doubt that Ami would be able to triumph over any adversity that she faced, something that she had worried about with her daughter just a year ago. She knew that Ami would do well up through college and likely med school. But once out in the real world where she would be forced to prove herself day in and day out, just as she herself had to do each day in what was still a male dominated profession, she had feared that Ami would falter. Now Ami was practically a different a person, one that would think nothing of sacrificing her life to save another.

Ami's return that evening brought relief to Reika and while she knew that she could not protect Ami from these dangers, she still wanted to mother her child as best as she could and so she had thoroughly questioned Ami so as to make sure that her daughter was not hiding any injuries. Sighing when she learned that Ami had only suffered from over stressing her body, her sighs came up short as Ami explained why she had pushed herself so hard. By the time that Ami had finished explaining the situation and the resulting confrontation with Naru's mother, Reika had decided that she could and would take this one burden off of her daughter.

While she expected that a night's sleep would allow Osaka-san to see things more reasonably, Reika still felt that it would be best if she served as an intermediary between Osaka-san and the Sailor Senshi. The girls had enough to worry about and did not need the added guilt of a concerned parent if Osaka-san still had some issues with the situation. Plus, Ami had her after school job that in the grand scheme of things was actually more important than her own work at the hospital. She did not have any surgeries scheduled the following afternoon and so with a call to Ikuko, she arranged to have Ikuko introduce her to Abe so that she could provide Ami's promised more thorough explanation.

Of course things did not go quite how Reika had planned, in that Ikuko never left, staying the entire time to ensure that all went well and to help Reika in her explanation. It was no accident that Serenity had been reborn as Tsukino Usagi, Ikuko's soul and to a lesser degree that of Kenji pulled the nascent star to themselves through their similarity in strength of the heart. That is not to say that Usagi could have been born anywhere on the planet, the convergence of lei lines that was Tokyo along with the earlier rebirth of her love, which also caused her own rebirth, constrained her to the greater Tokyo area. And tied as the four guardian stars were to their princess, they found mothers of their own located nearby to where Usagi's star had fallen into orbit around Ikuko as she awaited for the opportunity to be born.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The park incident, while being the front story for the evening news casts on the day it occurred, like the rest of the Sailor Senshi incidents quickly faded into the background. As sensational the events were, their aftermath differed very little and as such individually the events had a very short news cycle. As a result a large portion of Tokyoites still went about their daily life unaware that a battle had occurred and for the most part college students in the city, lost in their studies, were included in this group. One of those students who had at the time been studying non-stop at the time for an organic chemistry prelim and therefore had remained blissfully unaware was Mamoru. Before when Usagi fought this would never have happened, as his connection told him whenever she was in danger or called upon her power, which generally meant that she would shortly be in danger. Because of that connection, which always told him where Usagi was as well, he had never needed a communicator and so never knew about how close his daughter had come to dieing just days ago.

Instead, his mind was focused on the test booklet that sat open in front of him. Looking over his reaction mechanism he couldn't help but feel that he had at least one of the steps wrong. His head, though, felt like a demon had been using it as one of those paddle balls, the ones attached with elastic to a paddle, and he could no longer think clearly enough to figure out where he had screwed up. He therefore was quite happy when the professor called time a few minutes later and put Mamoru out of his misery.

Standing up, Mamoru did not have a warm fuzzy feeling leaving this test. Even though he had studied practically every free moment he had this past week, he felt that he got a large number of questions wrong or at best only partially right. Hopefully there would be a nice low mean, but with a class as large as the non-honors organic chemistry was there was certain to be enough curve breakers to keep the mean too high for his liking.

"So Chiba-san how do you think you did?" Asano Mayumi asked as he clasped his classmate on the shoulder with an expression that made it clear that he did not feel that he did too well himself either.

Mamoru simply replied with a look that easily conveyed all that was needed.

"That bad? Same here. It is one thing to assemble mechanism chains when we are doing our problem sets, but how do they expect us to keep all of those mechanisms straight in our memory for our tests? And don't even get me started on those stereoscopic ones" Asano replied.

"Hai though, I guess they have to make these initial courses hard in one way or another or they would end up with too many premed students."

"True, but still. What about those of us who are not premeds, why do we have to suffer because there are too many of you with delusions of being doctors?"

Chuckling, Mamoru replied, "What are you complaining about Asano-san. You are a chemical engineering student, this class must be a cake walk compared to the rest of your classes." As the memories of the horror stories he had heard recounted second hand by Asano and some of the other chemes in their study group about the senior design class. If it was not for the fact that that class was a senior year course, he would have thought it to be a weed out class.

"It would be if I had the time to study these blasted mechanisms. At least my fluid mechanic equations flow naturally with math and our tests are all open book, open notes." Then after a pause as the two of them exited the building, Asano continued with, "A couple of the other members of our lab group are getting together for some commiseration this evening, care to join us?"

Mamoru was just about to accept the offer, as he knew that his mind would not be up for doing any studying for the rest of the evening and a little commiseration sounded like a really good idea. However, those words died on his tongue as he caught sight of Ami. Given that none of Usagi's friends had ever visited him at the university, a pit of worry began to develop.

"While I would love to, it looks like something may have come up." Mamoru said to Asano.

Following Mamoru's gaze, Asano saw a blue haired girl dressed in a white lab coat who was leaning up against one of the pillars of the next building. Mentally whistling to himself as he took in Ami's beauty, mistaking her for a college student, Asano wondered how Mamoru had all of the luck with girls of late. After showing no interest in the opposite sex, he suddenly had that gorgeous blond girl some months ago and now he apparently was dating this blue haired one. Asano was not too surprised to see that Mamoru was no longer going out with his original girlfriend, whom he had never actually met, just saw them from a distance a few time. Given how studious his friend was he had a hard time seeing a high school student holding his attention for long. But another hard science major, as this girl apparently was, Asano could see something happening there.

"I am sure the others will understand. And if you change your mind, the two of you are more than welcome to come over later." Asano replied with a smile.

Not missing what his friend was implying, Mamoru's mind conjured up an image of an irate Ryo-san in his true form coming to find him and Ami-san at that party and causing him to shiver. "I will keep that in mind." Mamoru replied as he parted from Asano and headed towards Ami.

"Ami-san what brings you out here and why the lab coat?"

"A couple of things. As for the lab coat, I felt that I would be less conspicuous here on campus wearing this over my school uniform."

"You're probably right." Mamoru replied, realizing that Ami would have attracted the attention of security if she had hung around waiting for him in her junior high fuku. At least in her lab coat, she could be mistaken, at least initially, for a research student who had come out of the lab for the moment. And, with her currently wearing her reading glasses, which also made her look a few years older, it might take a few glances before someone realized that she looked a bit young.

"So what is it that you want to talk about?" Mamoru asked.

Replying "Not here." Ami turned and began walking.

Blinking when Ami did not immediately reply, Mamoru just shrugged to himself and fell in step with her. A few months ago, Ami would have been content to just check for eavesdroppers before talking to Mamoru. However, now with the security briefings that she had received with regard to her work with the military, she was no longer so carefree in where she talked about Sailor Senshi matters, particularly when they were in their civilian forms, which for her was now all the time. Though, even with those security concerns there was one subject of her visit to see Mamoru that Ami could take care of while they were walking to Mamoru's apartment. Removing a newly constructed communicator from her subspace pocket, she handed it off to Mamoru. Taking the watch like object, Mamoru quickly realized what Ami was giving him, in its base state its bulky design left no question as to what it was.

"Arigato Ami-chan." Mamoru replied as he replaced his current watch with the communicator. _ Maybe this is all that Ami-chan wants to talk to me about. _ Mamoru tried to tell himself as he willed his magic to disguise the communicator to look like the watch that he had just removed, but he knew that there had to be something more that Ami wanted to talk to him about. He just hoped that his fears were misplaced.

Twenty minutes later when the two of them were sitting in his apartment, Mamoru's fear were realized and then more so. Learning that ChibiUsa, his daughter, had been severely hurt, almost killed, by a demon yesterday shook him to his core. That by itself was enough to deeply scare Mamoru; but when Usagi's condition was factored in, Mamoru found himself unable to function as his mind came to terms with the fact that he had almost lost the last bit that connected him to his love.

Getting up from the chair that she had been sitting in, Ami crossed the distance to her best friend's lover and wrapped an arm around his back as she pulled him awkwardly into a hug. While she was nowhere as good as Usagi or Makoto in making someone feel better, she knew what helped her and so did her best to reciprocate to Mamoru.

When he had finally gotten his emotions under control, Mamoru reluctantly broke away from Ami's embrace. Looking over at the Junior High student, he saw her own pain over the incident reflected in her expression. Thinking back over what she had said, he realized something that he had initially missed, caught up as he was in what had happened to ChibiUsa.

"Are you still unable to henshin?" Mamoru asked.

"Hai." Ami replied hesitantly, caught off guard as she was by his question.

"That means that you ran in as you are to save ChibiUsa." Mamoru stated.

Ami nodded her head in acknowledgment, still not realizing what Mamoru was getting at.

"I owe you a dept of gratitude then for risking your life to save ChibiUsa. If it had not been for you, she would not have survived and you went in without any of your protective magic." Mamoru said.

"Demo, if it wasn't for Hotaru she still would have died. Maybe if I had my powers I could have gotten her out before it reached that stage. But as it is, it is Hotaru that you should be thanking." Ami replied, downplaying her role, still feeling guilty that she had somehow managed to loose her powers.

"Hotaru? How?" Mamoru asked, wondering how the black haired girl who he thought was currently somewhere in Asia played into this.

"Hai. I don't know how she did it. But wherever she is she must have felt ChibiUsa's pain and like Usagi was able to perform a miracle to save ChibiUsa." Ami said before beginning her explanation the butterfly that had healed ChibiUsa and her own thoughts on where that butterfly came from.

OoOoOoOoOo

With her day job finished for the day, Sailor Star Healer walked aimlessly down the streets of Tokyo as she shifted her thoughts from sorting produce to finding the Light of Hope. As much as they would have liked to have spent all of their time effort split between searching for the Light of Hope and training the local Sailor Senshi, life did not allow that. Instead, for the first time in Healer and her sisters' lives they had to work for a living, which was quite a change of pace for three who had been brought up to be first and foremost soldiers and secondly to be representatives of their world. And, while they had no qualms about working, finding employment had proved trickier than any of them had imagined with only Fighter finding something that approached a regular job.

The first strike against the three was of course their lack of marketable job skills, after all their skills in the military arts just were not in high demand in Japan . Now if they were searching for the Light of Hope in one of the current hot spots they would have been fine, but Japan was a peaceful nation and so they were left looking at the various unskilled jobs that were open. Even then they probably could have found something, even one that allowed for them to have irregular hours so that they could go "train" the local Sailor Senshi, but the fact that they were in essence illegal immigrants dropped the list of available jobs to practically nothing.

Though, Healer mused, Fighter managed to luck out in that regard. She was still not really sure how Fighter had managed to get herself a gig singing at one of the local clubs. With her singing Fighter brought in almost as much as she and Maker made together. They had considered joining Fighter, or Seiya as Fighter was known by in the club, in singing, but their desire to stay below the radar of the local Sailor Senshi except for when they wanted to be seen knocked that idea off the table, even if it would have made finances a lot easier. By posing as a boushin male singer, Fighter had won herself quite number of fans and Healer was sure that with some appropriate glamours that she and Maker could have been just as endearing to the young girls of this world.

Pausing in front of an electronics store to watch the news that was currently being displayed, Healer let that thought wander for a little more before killing it. Maybe if their reason for coming to this planet had been different; though, she had trouble figuring out what kind of circumstance would cause them to pose as a male singing group. Seeing a clip from last week's battle in the park, Healer turned her full attention to the window, hoping to learn something more. Unfortunately, though, the clip was just part of a thirty second piece reminding people to carry important medical and emergency information with them.

Turning away from the store, a puff of red hair caught Healer's attention. Smiling as she realized that something was finally breaking the monotony of the past week, Healer walked briskly down the sidewalk while thinking, _ Osaka Naru it is time to find out how responsive your protectors are. _

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"How may I help you sir?" a Western Union teller asked Kenji as he stepped up to the counter.

"I would like to send a money order." Kenji replied before giving the teller the contact information that he had for Hotaru and Luna. It was hard to believe that the two of them were in Kazakhstan . Though, he guessed that he should not be too surprised given that Hotaru was a Sailor Senshi after. Even still he worried about the two of them and hoped that they were doing well. While Luna's letter said that Hotaru was healthy and in good spirits, he couldn't but help but wonder if Luna was being totally straight with them.

Receiving that letter had been a very wonderful surprise for Kenji and Ikuko. While they treasured each of the rare letters that they received from Luna given that they were their only connection to their granddaughter, this letter was even more special. What made this letter so special was that Luna had included information on how to send them a reply. And, with that simple addition that letter had transformed the situation with Hotaru so that Ikuko and Kenji no longer felt that they had lost their granddaughter, but that she was just away on an extended trip. The letter, however, was not entirely good news, as it also forced them to remember how close they had recently come to loosing ChibiUsa. How Luna and Hotaru knew of ChibiUsa's injuries, Kenji had no clue and even chalking it up to Senshi magic seemed a little too far fetched for him.

Breaking from the memories that getting this money order brought up, Kenji accepted the completed money order from the teller and replied "Arigato."

Now with the money order in hand, Kenji left the store and began walking the few blocks that lay between the store and the nearest post office. Initially his reaction to receiving the letter from Luna had been the utter opposite of what he was now doing – he had wanted to contact the local embassy and to have them pick up the two wayward girls. If it had not been for Naru who had come over to help a sick ChibiUsa with her homework, he would have. In retrospect he had been quite foolish to think that Luna and Hotaru would have been detained long enough to be sent back, after all one was a shape shifting alien cat and the other was a Sailor Senshi. For her part Naru had realized early on in her friendship with Usagi that there was no way to talk her friend out of doing something once she set her mind to it and in the short time she had known the other Sailor Senshi she had noticed that they appeared to possess that same dedication, at least with regard to their duties as Sailor Senshi, and so she had rounded on Kenji and let him know just how foolish she thought he was being and that likely result would have been to cause Luna and Hotaru to abandon any gear.

The red headed girl was of course a tad bit mortified when she realized the tone that she had taken with Usagi's dad, not being one to talk back to adults. Kenji, however, had assured her that he took no offense. Both he and Ikuko had realized not long after the arrival of ChibiUsa that they would need to make allowances for Usagi and her friends as those girls had been placed into a position of being adults even though they were still just children and that they could not hold the girl's youth against them.

Once the option of having Luna and Hotaru collected and shipped back to Japan was ruled out, there was only one option that he and Ikuko could take with respect to the girls. While Luna did not ask for anything other than to know how ChibiUsa was doing, both he and Ikuko had agreed that they needed to send the two some money. While they still had no idea where Luna had come up with all of the money that she had used for her initial shopping spree; Mamoru had admitted to giving them some and Usagi's purse was empty, but neither of those would have been enough; they knew that the two would need some more money. Just the simple act of buying food not to mention transportation and lodging could get expensive quite quickly.

To that end, Kenji had just purchased a money order for one thousand US dollars. They had decided on US dollars as opposed to the local currency of Kazakhstan or yen as the two girls would likely be on the move as soon as they got the money and US dollars tended to be universally accepted, maybe not always with the best exchange rate, but accepted none the less. They could have sent even more money, as Hotaru's trust fund was quite well funded, but too much money would just make Luna and Hotaru targets. As worried as she was about them getting mugged, Ikuko had wanted to just send enough money for a week's worth of living expenses, but in the end she had agreed with him that doing that wouldn't be much better than sending no money since it would just trap the two girls in one location.

Stepping into the post office, Kenji went over to one of the tables and began checking the contents of the package that he was sending Luna. In it there were letters from him, Ikuko, and ChibiUsa and cards from Shingo, Naru, and the Senshi. Naru had not been closed lipped about the letter and so even before they sat down to eat dinner that night, they began to get calls from the other girls asking if they could include a card in the reply that was going to be sent. In addition to those personal messages there was the money order that he had just purchased, some photos, and then there were passports that Ami had produced. How Ami got those put together in only three days he had no idea, as even with the state level interaction that the girls now had with the government of Japan , bureaucracy still ruled out such a quick turn around.

Sealing the package and taking it over to a scale, Kenji weighed it. State level contact that was something else that was just as hard to get his mind around as was the case with the girls being reincarnated magical warriors. It was not that he had trouble with there being state level contact as he had over the months come to see the inner princess in his daughter, no it was that state level contact meant that it was ChibiUsa representing the Sailor Senshi, his almost eight year-old, in appearances at least, granddaughter. Though, he imagined it had to be even worse on his own country's side, as after all how does one handle holding diplomatic talks with an eight year old who commands warriors with enough power to level your country many times over.

With the package now weighed, Kenji walked over to the automated postage machine to purchase the requisite postage. Once that was done he gave it one final look before he slipped it into the mail slot while thinking, _ Take care Hotaru, know that we all love you and miss you very much. _

Leaving the post office, a bob of red hair on the other side of his street caught his attention. Looking more closely he realized that it was Naru. _ Strange that I would practically run into her in mailing the package when it was her actions that ensured that I mailed this package. _ Kenji thought to himself regarding the coincidence. Then giving the coincidence no more thought, he turned to walk back to his car. A scream, however, stopped him cold in his tracks. Easily recognizing the voice, Kenji turned with his heart clenched to see Naru being accosted by what appeared to be three young ladies in fairly revealing clothing. Between, the fact that one of them was holding Naru up by her shirt and the partially remembered discussions he had overheard of the latest battles the girls fought, he realized that this was one of the new enemies.

Along with that realization also came the memory of something else - that one of these two new enemies targeted Naru specifically, using her as some kind of ransom. Fearing for the girl who had become a big sister to his granddaughter, Kenji turned around and hurried back into the post office. He remembered seeing a pay phone in it, hopefully ChibiUsa would be home and she could relay the news to the others. Or if not, he was sure that Ikuko had the numbers for the other girls written down someplace. That would be something that he would have to remember to carry on himself from now on. He might also want to consider investing in one of those cell phones that were beginning to pop up everywhere.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Mamoru had only just finished putting away the groceries when the call came across his new communicator. Thinking to himself, _ Usako don't worry I will protect your friend. _ he picked his jacket up from where he had tossed it early on the couch and left his apartment. While he had no illusions of being able to turn the tide of the Sailor Senshi battles now that he was tied into their communicator network, he still wanted to help anyway that he could even if all he did was to look out for Naru in the same way that he had for Sailor Moon. While keeping Naru safe might not be the most glamorous task, he was mature enough to know that it could still be a big help by allowing the others to focus all of their attention on the enemy. The one thing that did worry him was that it sounded like he would arrive at the location where those rogue soldiers were holding Naru captive before the others and he just hoped that he wasn't adding a second hostage to the situation.

Exiting the apartment building, Mamoru reached into the space between his jacket and shirt where the rose that prompted his henshin into Tuxedo-Kamen always seemed to lay. Each time he henshin since learning the identities of the others, he would wonder briefly about how the rose was suddenly just there and kept making a mental note to talk to Ami about it, not that the note ever survived past the start of the battle. He had overheard the others mention something about a subspace pocket in their conversations and he wondered if that was involved here, not that he knew what that was either. This time, however, the rose was not there and when his fingers failed to close around the rose, the unexpected failure to grasp the rose caused him to briefly stumble in mid-stride. Slowing down to a stop, Mamoru brought his hand up to visually confirm that the rose was not there. Looking at his hand, a puzzled Mamoru thought, _ Why can't I henshin? _

"My prince that power that you once wielded as Tuxedo-Kamen no longer exists, but that was not your true power." said a voice that Mamoru never expected to hear again.

With his senses heightened from hearing the voice of an enemy that should be dead, Mamoru turned while subconsciously dropping into a slight crouch. Then once he had fully turned and confirmed with his own eyes what his ears told him, he said, "Nephrite."

"Yes, it is me, your highness. But you need not fear for in my death your lover saw fit to banish the evil that had taken a hold of my soul." The ghostly apparition of Nephrite replied.

"But if you are dead?" Mamoru asked

"Then how am I here?" Nephrite said finishing the question. "It would seem that there was more to the connection that had brought the four of us to you all of those years ago. Our souls are bounded to yours, a bond that keeps the three of us from passing fully on so that we can continue our duties of being your advisers. "

"The three of you?" Mamoru asked confused, sure that four so called "Heavenly Kings of the Earth" numbered four and not three.

"There was a shift in the stars, a shift that has propagated both forward and backward. Unlike Fire, Earth, and Water, Air will shortly be reborn." Nephrite replied as he gazed up at the heavens. Then turning back to face Mamoru, he continued with. "Eventually the rest of us will follow Jadeite and face our own judgments as new guides take our place. But until our powers pass own, we remain your loyal subjects." Nephrite said while kneeling down in the formal bow of a knight at the end.

"You don't need..." Mamoru began to say. Like his lover, he still had yet to come fully to terms with being royalty and reminders of his royalty made him feel awkward. Then on top of that there was the issue of Nephrite bowing to him out here in the open, assuming that people hadn't already taken notice to the fact that Nephrite was a bit translucent.

"Yes I do." Nephrite replied interrupting his prince. "You are the prince of this planet. Unlike her highness, Princess Serenity, you do not have the luxury of passing off the etiquette of royalty. Her empire has been reduced to that of just her closest friends and all of their hearts recognize her as their liege without waver. You, however, have an empire that does not yet recognize you as their liege. To rule this planet, you must garner the necessary authority and one aspect of that is the etiquette."

"But I don't have any desire to rule." Mamoru replied. Without Usako he barely had any desire to continue on. He was only able to hide his wish to just let it end because he had two daughters who needed him; though, he had already failed one of them. However, even before when Usagi was still at his side he never saw himself as anything more than a doctor, no matter what ChibiUsa claimed.

"The stars say it, so it will come to pass." Nephrite definitely replied. Then after standing up and with a change in tone he continued with, "Unfortunately, we do not have time for this discussion as your people need you.

Remembering the reason why he had left his apartment in the first place, Mamoru's face paled as he remembered that his inability to henshin into Tuxedo-Kamen. He was just about to try again, when Nephrite resumed speaking.

Walking over to his prince, Nephrite said, "This is a stone of pure nephrite. With it you will be able to call my spirit to your side should you need my advice." as he held up a smooth round stone for Mamoru to see before placing it into his hand. Then stepping back, he said, "Now call upon the power that is yours alone to command and protect your subjects." as his astral body faded away.

Tightly grasping his stone in his hand, Mamoru stood just watching where Nephrite had been for a few moments as his mind took the time to process all that had happened. He did not stand there long, as he was needed. Turning around, he headed towards an alley as he thought about what Nephrite has said about his powers. If the ability to turn into Tuxedo-Kamen was not his true power, then he hoped that meant that he still had an untapped power that he could use to protect Naru.

Finding an appropriately deserted alleyway, Mamoru entered and walked down along the pavement till he came to a dumpster that he could hide behind. While only minutes earlier he had attempted to henshin in the middle of the sidewalk, this time he elected for privacy. His transformations into Tuxedo-Kamen where not showy and unless one was looking right at him one probably wouldn't even realize that something had happened, especially since Tuxedo-Kamen was relatively unknown by the population at large.

Letting himself slip into a light trance, Mamoru turned his focus inward, delving into his soul. Searching for the power that was supposedly his to command, Mamoru let the memories of some of his most dire battles, when he had become Endymion as opposed to Tuxedo-Kamen come to the surface. His power felt different those times and now he wondered if maybe that was what Nephrite had been referring to. Though, even with focusing in how he had felt when in those forms, Mamoru could not find this well of power that was his to command. Becoming frustrated with his lack of progress, Mamoru was just in the process of giving when he suddenly felt a spark of something. Reflexively acting, he tried to mental grab a hold of that spark and then suddenly he felt his body coursing with power. Keeping his fingers figuratively crossed, he opened his eyes and with a triumphant smile saw that he was now wearing his armor from a thousand years ago.

To an outsider at first glance his armor probably did not look that impressive – it was no suit of armor being closer in style to chain mail than even half plate. However, just as the protection that that planetary warriors had was not in their fuku but in the magic that constructed the outfits, the same was true for his own armor thereby giving him the protection of the best full plate with none of its drawbacks. Now ready to face the enemy, Mamoru left the alley and resumed his brisk jog down the street, this time getting a lot of stares in his direction. Thankfully he was for the most part going with the flow so the stunned pedestrians were generally behind him and so did not significantly impede his progress. _ Next time I will take my car and wait to henshin till I am closer in. _ Mamoru thought to himself as he dodged around a group of gawkers.

Finally arriving at the location that ChibiUsa had relayed to them over her communicator, Mamoru spotted the three rogues and Naru. Slowing down to a moderately paced walk, Mamoru continued on towards the three enemies while trying to portray an air of authority. When he saw that he had their attention, he laid his right hand on the hilt of his sword and stated, "In the name of the Earth, as its prince, I, Endymion, command you to let the girl go."

Initially as Mamoru walked towards them, Fighter and her two sisters did not paid him too much attention. Fighter, though, was a bit puzzled by why he was not scared away like all of the others. _ Oh, I see. He must be one of their local peace keepers. _ Fighter thought to herself when Mamoru got close enough that she could make out some of his outfit, mistaking it for the uniform of a military police group. As she was the closet of the three to the approaching Earther, Fighter straightened up from where she had been leaning against the wall so as to tell him to get lost.

Not really paying attention to what Mamoru had said, as she was just going to chase away this local peace keeper, his words initially passed by her. But she had still heard them and a couple of moments later they fully sank in. If Mamoru had been hoping to convince these three Sailor Senshi to release Naru without a fight, he had unknowingly chose the wrong words to say. Fighter, Healer, and Maker had till recently had never been outside of the Star Alliance and as such there were some things that they knew to be true with the same certainty that one would say that the sun would rise in the morning and set at night. One of those was that a celestial body never ever had a prince, only princesses and that the title of princess was an honorary one bestowed upon the planet's "human" form.

Consequently, by claiming to be the prince of the Earth, Mamoru's claim rang wrong with them. By itself this might not have been enough to trigger the reaction that was about to follow as given some time they probably could concede that a world that did not know of Star Children might have a line of royalty that was passed on from father to son as opposed to female incarnation to female incarnation. Tempering that argument would of course be the counter argument that with its fractured nations, Earth was not at a point for that be the case. However, neither of those mattered or were even considered as the gaze of Fighter and her sisters hardened into cold calculating stares for all three of them could feel the resonance of a Star Seed in this self proscribed prince.

To the three outsiders the possibility that the star that they felt in front of them was in fact Mamoru's soul never crossed their minds. Instead, they saw an impostor who had managed to duplicate Galaxia's ability to steal souls. Sure that this Endymion must have killed and taken the soul of Earth's rightful avatar for his own use, fury began to consume the three of them.

"How dare you. You bastard!" Maker, as the first of the three to react, screamed.

Taken by surprise from the sudden hostility, Mamoru was barely able to dodge out of the way of the attack in time. Though, caught off guard as he was by the ferociousness of the attack his dodge was not the smoothest and he had to pick himself up off the ground afterwards. Standing back up he looked over at the other two, hoping that maybe they would share some light on what had set the third off, but he found identical expressions reflected in their faces.

Gulping as he knew he was in trouble, for the next ten minutes, Mamoru did his best to try to fend off the relentless attacks that the three sent his way. Luckily for him his lessons from a thousand years ago had drilled him on combat skills until they became instinctive to the young prince, which served him well now. Though, that was only because the Star Lights kept him so tied up that he was forced to relay strictly on his ingrained instincts to keep himself alive. If they had not been quite so relentless in his attacks, he most likely would not have survived until the arrival of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The sight of explosions reaching into the sky had driven Haruka towards the battle at a continuously faster pace. Only her skills as a Sailor Senshi and a racecar driver allowed her to keep her car from smashing into one of the many obstacles that she had recklessly dodged in her attempt to shave every second that she could off of her arrival and the only thing that kept her from being pulled over was that one look at was she was racing towards was enough to convince the cops to give her a pass this time, having no desire to move towards the demon battle. When she had finally arrived within a half a block, Haruka abruptly stopped the car and in the next moment she and Michiru were leaping out of the car and running that last half block as they called upon their powers. Arriving on the scene and seeing the dire straights that Mamoru was in, they decided to forgo any introductions and simply launched their attacks at the Star Lights, forcing three to scatter.

"What did you say to get them so pissed off?" Uranus asked as she landed beside Mamoru. Then, after taking note of Mamoru's new outfit, she asked, "And what happened to the Tuxedo?"

Replying to the first question, Mamoru said, "I just asked them to let Naru go." before an attack from Healer forced him to jump away. With his attention now focused again on the other three, Mamoru continued with "I will explain about the Tux later." to Uranus who had landed slightly behind and to his right.

As the battle resumed now with three and against three odds, Fighter frowned. _ He must be the one responsible for their awakening. Either he is planning on controlling them, maybe with a new bonding artifact or he wants to take their Stars when they fully mature. _ Fighter thought to herself as she wondered about why these two Senshi were defending the impostor. It would seem like a far better bet to take the Star when the warrior was just born, but Galaxia's actions during the war had led many to postulate that something must occur to the Star as its mortal-self matured as there were numerous examples of Galaxia attacks becoming a siege should a Star Child of the target system die.

This realization of Fighter, however, did pose a quandary – they needed to kill this Earth "prince," but they did not want to utterly alienate the Sailor Senshi of this system and then on top of that there was the question of whether or not strengthening these Sailor Senshi would only be counterproductive until they killed him. Unfortunately, with the battle already joined there was not much that she could do now. For now she would continue to pull her punches per say against the Sailor Senshi, while trying at the same time to kill the self-proclaimed Earth prince.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Some time after the rest of the Sailor Senshi had joined the battle, Venus after using her chain to yank Mamoru out of the way of an attack said, "Endymion, you need to leave."

"Iie, I can help. I have not been injured" Mamoru replied as he resumed a combat position.

Rounding on the prince, Venus more harshly than she intended demanded "Do you not see it? Your presence here is only inflaming those three. You are doing more harm than good. I now realize that they were only toying with us before and to a degree they are still doing that with the five of us. But you, they are trying to kill. Now go home before you get one of us killed."

"What are you talking about. I can hold my own." Mamoru replied, his hackles up over Venus telling him that he was not doing any good, having missed the point of her speech.

Feeling a flare in her being from the lack of respect that this Earther was showing her, Venus's eyes narrowed as she slipped more into her commander mode. Being in no mood to debate the point with Mamoru, Venus instead replied with, "You may be her Highness's lover, but out here on the battlefield I am in command. Now follow my orders and leave or when this is over I will see about finding a brig for you to be placed in."

Caught off guard by the harsh words of the normally bubbly teen, Mamoru stopped paying attention to his surroundings, a mistake that nearly cost him his life when Healer took advantage of the opportunity that was being afforded to her. Only the last minute save by the nearby Sailor Mars who knocked him to the ground, covering his body with her own saved his life. Venus might have tried to saved his life as well, but she had been equally caught off guard and had only been able to jump out of the way. Returning to her feet and with fire in her eyes, Mars grabbed a hold of the front of Mamoru's outfit and with a couple of bounds jumped up to the roof of a building. Tossing him to the ground, she said "What the hell do you think you are doing? You may not think you life is worth a lot. But think of ChibiUsa-chan and Usagi. I am not going to let you break their hearts. Now get the hell out of here before I have Uranus drag you out."

Overwhelmed and more than sufficiently cowed by Mar's ire, Mamoru replied, "Hai, I will leave."

Mars watched Mamoru leave and once she was sure that he was gone she returned to the battle, apparently unphased by the large 2nd degree burn on her back where Healer's attack had skimmed her. Finding Venus, Mars informed her that she had convinced Mamoru to leave, something that their enemies also took notice of and as such the intensity of the battle decreased. The reduction in intensity confirmed Venus's suspicions though the blond still had no idea as to what those three had against Mamoru. The best that she could think of was that there was some bad blood left over from the fall of the Moon Kingdom and in particular maybe that they failed to realize that prince Endymion had fought with the Moon against the Earth forces during the invasion. Hopefully Artemis or maybe Erion might have some idea of what set those three off.

When the Star Lights suddenly pulled out ending the fight five minutes later, the Sailor Senshi were left confused for a moment with the sudden end to the battle, given how intense it had just been. Remaining on guard for a few more moments after the Star Lights left, Venus finally relaxed when she lost sight of them. Turning back to the others, she succinctly said, "Well let's collect Naru and get of here."

"Hai." Mars replied with a grimace that came from the loss of adrenaline that had been masking the intense pain of her burned back.

"Um.. Mars why don't you go find Ami-chan" Uranus asked as she walked over towards the others and caught sight of Mars's back.

"Yeah, girl, go find Ami. Actually, why don't I come with you." Jupiter said before walking over to the fire Senshi and picking her up, deciding not to give her friend any opportunity to be difficult.

Catching sight of Mars's back as Jupiter left, Venus grimaced. Seeing Venus's grimace, Erion said, "Don't worry, she if she gets prompt treatment she will be okay in a day or two."

"Hai," Venus replied, glad that Ami was as good in medicine as she was. "Now where is Naru?"

Unfortunately, that question proved quite difficult to resolve as they quickly found out that the red headed girl was nowhere to be found.

"Do you think they took her with them?" Uranus asked, even though she was sure that she did not see them take anybody with them.

"Iie, they definitely did not have anyone with them when they left." Neptune replied.

"The other enemy?" Venus suggested, knowing that Naru had been attacked by that other group already once.

"Wouldn't we have seen them?" Uranus replied.

Silence came over the group as the other shook their head and they tried to consider other options. Deciding to try something, Neptine pulled out her talisman and looked into its reflective surface, hoping that it might shed some light on the situation. Seeing an image of Naru eating ice-cream with ChibiUsa, she had to fight the unlady like urge to snort. Returning the mirror to her subspace pocket, she ignored the questioning stares she was now getting and activated her communicator, opening the channel to ChibiUsa.

"Hai." came ChibiUsa's response as she activated her communicator.

"ChibiUsa-chan is Naru by any chance with you?" Neptune asked pleasantly, none of her previous worry apparent in her voice.

"Hai, she is. Kenji-papa brought her home some time ago and we are having chocolate ice-cream." ChibiUsa replied and with quite a bit of enthusiasm with the announcement that they were having chocolate ice-cream, which while not quite as good as chocolate pudding to ChibiUsa was still quite a top notched treat. Then after a pause in which she appeared to have taken another bite of her ice-cream, ChibiUsa continued with, "Kenji-papa said that the three you were fighting were not paying any attention to Naru and that she was able to just walk away and apparently he was not far away in his car and so picked her up and brought her home."

"Would have been nice to have known that earlier." Uranus grumbled, "but I guess ChibiUsa-chan did not want to risk distracting us."

Sensing her lover's annoyance, Neptune walked up beside Uranus and pulled the other girl in against her, instantly quieting Haruka before the two turned and took their leave.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

With the battle over, the Sailor Senshi soon found themselves all gathered at the Tsukino household. While many of their meetings still occurred at the Hikawa shrine, a fair number of meetings also took place at the Tsukino house. Part of this was that it was easier to nurse their wounds after battle in a place that they did not have to hide their secret and a major subconscious reason was that by discussing big items at Usagi's place they felt like they were including her in the discussion. And as big topics for discussion went, this particularly meeting promised to be high on that list.

The first to arrive had been Ami and Ryo, who had been out on a date when the call came. They actually had arrived while the battle was still going on as they had diverted to the Tsukino household as opposed to the battle. The reason for that was the peculiar behavior of these foreign Sailor Senshi who almost seemed to just be wanting to play hard and as such there very little Ami could contribute to the battle and Minako was reluctant to involve the military until they knew what those three were up to. After all, the three did help them out against the other enemy. Therefore, Minako had, in conjunction with Artemis's advice, decided that in these cases that Ami would look out after ChibiUsa to make sure that their princess did not get any ideas and to guard against a faint.

The next to arrive had been Mamoru who had been followed not long after Makoto and Rei. Not wanting to waste any time in getting Rei's back looked at, Jupiter, while still carrying Rei, had run to the Tsukino house once she had learned that to be Ami's location. Then about fifteen minutes later Haruka and Michiru arrived and ten minutes after them Minako and Erion who had taken the bus arrived finishing off the group. While no one had specifically called for an after battle meeting, the need for one was implicitly understood by all present due to how different today's battle had been from the previous ones with the rogue Senshi. Or everyone but Mamoru felt that there was a need, for he had never seen their previous behavior. In Mamoru's case, the only reason why he had come was that his pride had been wounded, which for some reason bothered him quite a lot this time.

When he had first arrived, he had been quite testy; though, he did his best to be pleasant to Ami, Ryo, ChibiUsa and Ikuko, knowing that none of them deserved his ire. And, by the time that rest of the Sailor Senshi arrived he had pretty much fully calmed down. However, the moment that he saw Minako walk into the room his temper flared backup. Abruptly standing up, he strode over to the blond and demanded of her, "Where do you get off telling me to leave the battle like that?"

Like Mamoru, Minako had also attempted to calm herself following the battle. In her case, her efforts had also included an attempt to prepare for what she had expected to be a less than pleasant discussion with Mamoru regarding his need to stay away from the three foreign Sailor Senshi. Unfortunately those calming exercises did not survive past he entry in the living room, where Mamoru had been waiting. Reacting purely on instinct to Mamoru's verbal assault, she replied, "Watch your tongue Earther. I let you fight amongst us out of deference to her highness and because you have the potential to be helpful, but I draw the line when it puts any of my warriors at risk."

"You are just junior high girls. What can you do that I cannot? I have the power of the Earth at my call." Mamoru quickly replied; though, like Minako his words came without thought and in his case were fueled the part of him that was Endymion. Whereas Mamoru had grown up in the modern world where women were looked upon, particularly amongst the younger generation, as equals, Endymion had grown up in a world where such a statement would have been heresy. The prominent role that women played in the Moon Kingdom due to the existence of Star Children as well as the fact that the colonists who had founded that kingdom had come from an advanced egalitarian society was something that Endymion had not yet needed to come to terms with before his death, as his one and only trip to the Moon had been during that fateful night. Consequently, the persona of Endymion took very poorly to a young girl giving him orders.

On the other side, the persona of whom Minako had once been had been stirred to action by Mamoru's words. While she did not have the sexist problem of Endymion, she did have a problem with her authority being challenged. It was a problem that occurred every time that a Senshi of Venus took on the title of Commander, which typically occurred before their fifteenth birthday. Earning the respect of those that they commanded was not a trivial affair, as after all no matter how fair minded a soldier tried to be it was hard to accept taking orders from a child, especially in the case of the generals. The problem rarely last more than a few years, but as it happened to every Venus incarnation, the dislike of being dismissed because they were just a child was something that had become part of who they were. To a degree, the problem was faced by each of the Sailor Senshi, but with Venus being the Supreme Commander of the military forces, she had it worse and unlike her sister warriors who were all over a hundred at the time of the fall, she had been only slightly older than her current age, having been the same age as the princess. As a result, she had only just finished passing through that phase of having her orders questioned and so when Mamoru began to challenge her, her natural reaction was to fight back full force.

Hearing the tone of Minako's reply to Mamoru's dismissal of them being nothing more than little girls, Ami called out "Minako-chan, Mamoru-san." with a calming and slightly alarmed voice as she stood up.

Unfortunately for her, her plead to the two verbal combatants went unheard. Looking over at the faces of her friends, her stomach dropped for they had expressions the clearly stated that they had a bone to pick with Mamoru as well. Counting herself lucky that they had not joined in for she knew that that would most likely just cause Mamoru to dig his heals in deeper, she tried to rack her brain for a way to diffuse the situation before irreversible words were spoken. Feeling a small hand squeeze her own, she looked down to find a scared ChibiUsa. _ I could try to play ChibiUsa's princess card, but in the state that Mamoru-san is in right now I don't think he would recognize her authority and he might say something that could destroy their relationship. _ That said, Ami could see no other option and it looked like she was going to have to risk destroying the father-daughter relationship between Mamoru and ChibiUsa if she was to stop this nonsense.

"My liege, you must stop these foolish words at once. Calm yourself." A male voice said, interrupting the war of words and saving Ami from having to knowingly make a bad decision.

Turning as a group, the girls and Mamoru were stunned to find Kunzite standing in the room.

"YOU!" Makoto and Haruka screamed before they called upon their powers, only moments ahead of the rest. Only Ami and ChibiUsa, who couldn't, and Erion, who did not know of Kunzite, were left in their civilian attire, even Ryo had shifted into his "demon" form, an act that caused the ghost of Kunzite to flinch momentarily.

"Wait. I am not your enemy." Kunzite said as he held out his hands palm outwards

"He's telling the truth. Nephrite spoke to me earlier this afternoon, it was how I discovered how to access my powers as Endymion now that I can no longer become Tuxedo-Kamen." Mamoru said as he turned to Kunzite.

"What changed?" Ami asked as she took a couple of steps forward while Jupiter and Uranus relaxed slightly from being ready to imminently attack Kunzite.

"Sailor Moon. When she destroyed Beryl, she healed their souls. Once they had been my mentors and guards, but then they were ensnared by Beryl's magic as part of her plot to steal the power of the Moon for herself." Mamoru explained.

Kneeling and addressing the reborn warriors of the Moon, Kunzite said, "Even still that does not excuse the actions of the four of us, we should taken our own life before letting ourselves be used as we were. It was the perversion of our power that supposed to have been used for protecting Endymion that allowed Beryl to tip the tide of battle in her favor. Without us, your kingdom would never have fallen and for that we can never be forgiven. Soon we will face our final judgment, but until then we will advise our prince as best as we can."

"I don't sense any darkness in his soul." Mars replied

"Me neither." Neptune added.

Walking forward from where she hidden herself behind Ami, ChibiUsa walked towards the kneeling spirit. "I know oka-san would believe you and would also forgive you and so I do too."

Smiling at the maturity that ChibiUsa was displaying, Ami said, "Kunzite-san your guidance will be most appreciated and if I am not mistaken your reason for being here now is to provide some of that."

Standing backup, Kunzite regarded the princess of Mercury for a moment, mentally raising his opinion of her a couple of notches given that she was the only one in the room who had not immediately assumed that he was a threat as evidenced by her remaining powered down, not that he expected her to be any less prepared to fight should he have proved to be hostile. In actuality, he figured that she would likely have been the most dangerous of the group as she would have been the only one heading into the battle with a level head. "That is correct." Kunzite replied. Then turning to Mamoru he said, "Your highness, forgive the boldness of my words, but we are just children before the Sailor Senshi. From the legends, their kind has watched over our planet for thousands of years. Only with you have we finally reached the stage where we can stand beside them. However, do not mistake the ability stand beside as being their equals just as a lowly spear man is no equal of a knight.

"Demo..." Mamoru began, however, Kunzite simply held up his hand.

"I know Nephrite told you that you must act your rightful role as prince of the Earth and I whole heartedly agree, but do not let that pride go to your head. If this world is to succeed into the future, it will only be with the support of the Sailor Senshi and so, unlike Beryl, you must recognize your position in the council of the planets." Kunzite said and then after waiting a few moments for his words to sink in he continued, "Unfortunately, I have just about used up my time for now. And so, before I leave, let me leave with you with my own stone." Then depositing the stone of pure kunzite into Mamoru's hand, he turned and faded away leaving a stunned room.

"Well then, why don't we start the discussion again that seems to have caused so many harsh words, but in more civilized tones." Ikuko said in a no nonsense tone, having been drawn to the room by the exchange of heated words.

"Hai." Minako and Mamoru sheepishly replied, both sufficiently cowed by Ikuko's tone.

"Good, no why don't we go into the dining room where we can have some tea and talk. Ami-chan, ChibiUsa why don't the two of you come as well, given that the two of you obviously were not present for the source of this disagreement." Then turning to look at the rest of the girls, Ikuko said, "Why don't the rest of you head on home and get some rest" as she did not want to risk the potential of a gang up situation from occurring. While there was still the potential of that with ChibiUsa and Ami-chan being added to the mix, she figured it to be quite low in the case of Ami-chan and with ChibiUsa it was a necessary risk given that her granddaughter might have to be the one to make the final call if Minako-chan and Mamoru-san could not resolve their differences. "Ryo-kun if you like you can wait here in the living room until we are finished; though, it may be a bit."

"Arigato, Tsukino-san. I have my homework with me so I should be able to keep myself occupied."

"Demo, weren't you and Ami-chan on a date?" ChibiUsa asked, obviously confused as to where homework fit into a date to which Ami and Ryo simply blushed causing the other girls to mutter beneath their breath about messed up dates as they filed out of the house.

Once the others had all filed out, Ikuko turned to the four and said. "Okay why don't you four head over to the dining room and I will go make us some more tea." Then turning to Ryo, she added, "If you get hungry or thirsty, feel free to use the kitchen."

"Hai." Ryo replied as he began to take his school books out his satchel.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The setting of the evening sun a few days later found Rei's grandfather sweeping the shrine grounds. Looking out over the city streets that lay below, he paused in his chores to take in the sight before him. He always found there to be something peaceful about standing at the head of the stairs during a summer evening and looking out at the world. As was often the case, he found his thoughts turning inward to reflect on the current state of affairs. This time, however, those reflections found a hint of worry. The summer solstice would be here shortly and whereas normally he looked forward to the start of summer this year summer's arrival would bring with it a day of morning for the birthday of one Tsukino Usagi fell on just days later on the 30th.

Hino-san knew that as much as his granddaughter tried to hide it that the loss of her best friend hurt her deeply and that it was a pain that would take a long time to dull. _ I wonder how best I can help Rei. _ he thought to himself as he thought about what that day was going to mean to Rei. On one hand he could stand back and let Rei's friends help her, friends who he was sure were the only reason why loosing Usagi had not utterly destroyed Rei, and on the other hand he could actively try and help her. While he was sure that his guidance would help her, he was also quite aware that there were things that Rei was not telling him and he did not want to her to feel pressured about the secrets that she was keeping.

First on that list of secrets was what Tsukino Usagi truly was and he had no doubt that his granddaughter knew something. The silver haired girl shone with a light that was impossible to miss for those who eyes were open. The light not only illuminated Usagi, but it also flowed into Rei and her friends, marking them as being intimately involved in the angel's stance against the darkness. An angel that was a term that he felt befitted the girl even if the specific image that he felt best described Usagi was one from Christianity. Thinking of Usagi, he chuckled to himself for a few moments in remembering the Usagi he had first met when Rei had tried to purify her. Back then he had totally missed that she was an angel, which may have been for the best since he doubted that Rei would have opened her heart to Usagi if she had known the truth.

Getting a hold of his thoughts, Hino returned to thinking about Usagi's upcoming birthday and as he did so he thought of another person who was also taking Usagi's loss heavily - Tsukino Ikuko. _ Maybe I should invite the Tsukino family over for a private ceremony and have Rei help me with it. _ Hino-san thought, as a plan began to form By prefacing the ceremony as being one to help Usagi's family, he would be able to side step Rei's pride. Given that Rei and Usagi's mother had been working through their grief together it would only be natural for the two of them to morn the anniversary of her birth together. Though, if he did that there was then the question of whether or not Rei's apprentice should also be present.

Mizuno Ami, her appearance in Rei's life was something else that he was continuously thankful for, even if her impact took time to manifest itself. While taking on an apprentice at Rei's age was quite out of the ordinary, doing so had helped Rei mature and learn to control her temper, and when one considered that both Rei and Ami where touched by Usagi tradition did not matter. Rei of course would likely bristle if he referred to the blue haired girl as Rei's apprentice, with Rei not feeling ready for the responsibility that was implied, but there was no doubt in his mind that when Ami came to visit that she was here as Rei's apprentice. There was also another element that connected the two girls together, a dept of shame that each felt that they owed the other. What those debts were Hino had no idea, knowing only that they involved Usagi and so he let the two keep their secret.

For Hino-san it was reassuring in his old age to see today's youth still retaining interest in the old ways. While Ami was only one person, the fact that she, a follower of science, was devoting so much effort to the Shinto traditions warmed his heart and gave him hope that future would not become a soulless world. He did not blame the youth for more and more the old traditions and modern science and technology were becoming estranged to each other and more often than not it was tradition which lost out when it tried to oppose science. He only hoped that Ami would be able to spread her understanding of how the two fit together to form a cohesive whole, something that even he himself did not see fully. Finished with his introspection, Hino-san turned away from the street and crossing the courtyard he entered into the shine. Walking softly so as to not disturb the two junior high girls, he looked in to check on them. Inside the fire room, Rei and Ami, both in the traditional shrine maiden outfits, knelt in front of each other, knees just barely touching, in deep concentration.

Teaching Ami how to develop mental walls had not been the most easy thing for Rei to do as her own skills were something that she had developed almost instinctively over the years along side of learning to control her own spiritual powers. As such, she found herself more often than not lacking proper descriptors for describing to Ami what she needed to do. In addition to lacking the proper way of describing what she wanted Ami to do, she had not even considered needing to teach this skill to Ami, as it was second nature to Rei. Thankfully, Ami had brought up the topic, though like every other time that Ami had suggested something that she wanted to learn from Rei, Ami had reverted to her insecure self requiring a substantial effort on Rei's part in extracting the request. Normally such extreme timidity was abnormal for Ami, as her thirst for knowledge would typically win out against her shy nature that is not to say that she wouldn't blush heavily after blurting out a question. But with Rei, that thirst was not enough to overcome her apprehensions and Rei knew that they were apprehensions. For as much as their regular relationship had recovered there were still some areas were the damage was still yet to be healed - the safety of Usagi and Shinto traditions. Rei also heavily suspected that it was those same insecurities over Usagi's safety that prevented Ami from being able to henshin, an insecurity that she was the cause of.

Rei knew she could be partially excused for missing the need to train Ami in creating and using mental barriers as Ami's abilities were growing far faster than would normally be possible, likely a result of her innate Sailor Senshi abilities. When she had begun the training she had figured that Ami's abilities would develop much along the line of her own abilities and probably not as fast. But they had not instead, they had developed far faster and it was not till Ami made her request that Rei took the time to measure Ami's progress. In retrospect, Ami's ability to ferret out those hidden energy collectors should have clued her in, but she had been too focused on Usagi at the time. As a result, Ami was now in a very precarious position where she could be easily overwhelmed by her sensitivity to the spiritual elements or worse off be attacked by a malevolent spirit for an unprotected spiritually aware mind was ripe fruit for the plucking to those entities. That last option always caused Rei to shiver when she thought of it. However, Ami had thought to ask and Ami now had some basic mental barriers that would give her some protection and allow her to function without being overcome by demonic auras and before long Rei was sure that Ami's mental defenses would be as good as her own.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Humming to herself, Hotaru sat on a branch of a large tree weaving strands of fabric together to form a bracelet. The weaving technique was one that she had learned a few weeks ago when they had stopped at a village so that Luna could buy some supplies and gather information of the terrain in front of them. While Luna had been haggling with one of the vendors, Hotaru had wondered off to look at the other stands. She had been drawn in by the fabric bracelets that one of the merchants was selling. Seeing Hotaru's interest, the lady who was selling the bracelets gave her a quick tutorial into how to do her own weaving.

Since learning the technique and buying some supplies from the merchant, Hotaru had, during her free time between hiking and training, worked on her weaving. At first, what she weaved could only loosely be called bracelets and were tossed into the fire before she got halfway through them. A couple of days ago, Hotaru had finally been able weave something that she was not ashamed of and Luna now wore that bracelet. Now with one completed bracelet under her belt she was undertaking a far more ambitious project, trying to weave three of them at the same time.

The three bracelets were to be for her, her mother, and her best friend, now sister. Initially when she had thought of weaving bracelets for mama and ChibiUsa's birthday, she was just going to do something like she had done for Luna. That plan lasted until she had picked up the yarn at which time this far more ambitious project came to mind. To symbolize how she felt about the other two girls, she had decided to have strands that would weave in and out between the three bracelets. While she would, of course, have cut the interweaving strands, to her those strands represented the, what she hoped were unbreakable, bonds that held them together such as the one that had let her help ChibiUsa a fortnight ago.

The tree that Hotaru was currently sitting on was one of her favorite places in this forest. Over the two weeks they had spent here, she had plenty of time to investigate the various spots. She liked it as she could just make out the city in the distance, letting her feel like she was watching over it as a guardian angel. While part of her wanted to be part of the hustle and bustle that was the city below, she understood, as well as a nine year old could, Luna's reasons for wanting them to stay out of the city.

_ I wish I could be there for ChibiUsa-chan's birthday. _ Hotaru thought to herself as she paused in her weaving. She missed her best friend and sending a gift, even a hand crafted one was no substitute. She could easily imagine what a birthday must be like for her energetic friend and had no doubt that if she herself had been back in Tokyo that the two of them would be getting themselves into trouble with some plan that ChibiUsa had cooked up. That was not to say that Hotaru saw ChibiUsa as a trouble maker, just that she couldn't help but believe that ChibiUsa would get caught up in the energy of the day.

_ Though maybe this is for the better. _ Hotaru thought as her thoughts turned more morose. She still blamed herself for contributing to Usagi's current condition. While she knew that no one else did, she also knew that she wouldn't be able to muster the same enjoyment for the day given that it was also Usagi's birthday. I would just be an anchor on ChibiUsa's happiness.

The snapping of twigs pulled Hotaru out of those thoughts and returned her focus to the present. Following Luna's teachings, she quickly packed away her weaving supplies and made ready to disappear deeper into the forest as she began scanning for who or what had intruded on her sanctuary. Luna did not want anyone from the city to know that they were living in the forest. This was the reason why Hotaru was up in the tree in the first place, as she was less likely to be noticed there, while her and Luna's packs were carefully hidden in a spot of very thick brush that had some nasty prickly plants. They also moved their campsite each night to avoid letting a trace build up.

Spotting the familiar head of black hair, Hotaru smiled and jumped down from the tree. Landing on the ground she enthusiastically cried "Luna-chan" before giving the older girl a hug.

Smiling at the young girl's energy, Luna dropped one of her knees down to the ground so that she was closer to being at eye level and asked, "Have a good time while I was away?"

"Hai, I am almost done with the bracelets." Hotaru relied as she pulled the items out her subspace pocket to show them to her mentor.

"They are looking very nice. I am sure that ChibiUsa-chan and Usagi-chan will very much enjoy them. Now why don't you go get our packs so that I can start cooking dinner. I picked up some fresh fruit today for dessert."

The mention of a treat perked up Hotaru's mood considerably. While they had eaten plenty of fresh fruit on their trip, particularly in the form of berries, the availability of wild fruits had begun to become slimmer now that summer was setting in. Beyond that, however, Hotaru understood Luna to mean that she had bought fruit, which meant that it was going to be something different than normal and that this was a special occasion, something that made Hotaru very happy even if she did not know why today was a special occasion.

Chuckling to herself as Hotaru dashed off to retrieve their packs, Luna resumed her own thoughts, which consisted of revisions to their plans. Till now they had to be extremely frugal with their resources, needing to live off the land as much as possible. Thankfully, necessity truly is the mother of invention and the two of them had become quite adept at that way of life. Though, there had been more than one occurrence where Hotaru's healing powers had been needed to counteract eating non-edible plants, after-all the author of the edible plant book that Luna had picked up didn't know about aliens and as such some things that were safe for Hotaru to eat were quite toxic for Luna.

That lifestyle would now change. Starting today, they could afford to stock up on supplies whenever they stopped at a town. In retrospect the money order that Tsukino-san had sent them should not have surprised Luna. She and Hotaru, after all, were on their own with no means of supporting themselves and no parent, or grandparent as the case may be, would standby and not help their own if given the chance. All that was required was giving them chance to help, an opportunity that was provided by Hotaru not wanting to leave the city till she knew that ChibiUsa was okay. When they had first arrived in this city two weeks ago, Luna had sent a letter home to Tokyo while also arranging with some missionaries that she had found to receive letters for her. In waiting for the reply, Luna would go into the city every few days to check to see if a response had come as well as to gather news, not that she was able to gather a whole of news given her inability to speak the local language combined with her poor English skills. Even still she felt the news gathering effort to be worth it even if she was limited to reading people's body language, a skill that had been second nature to back on the Moon in her role as a diplomatic advisor.

"Arigato for getting the packs." Luna said after Hotaru had returned with the second pack.

"You are welcome. What would you like me to help with tonight?" Hotaru asked as she began to remove the cooking items that she carried, which consisted primarily of the lighter elements such as the dried foods and the fire starting tools.

"Nothing tonight." Luna replied surprising Hotaru. "Instead, I think you might want to spend the time reading the cards that the others sent you and especially the long letter from your sister."

"Nani? They sent me mail." Hotaru asked in a very excited and hopeful voice.

"Hai." Luna said with a smile as she handed over the stack of mail for Hotaru to read.

Taking the items for Luna, Hotaru with a large smile replied "Arigato, Arigato Luna-chan." before lunging at Luna and wrapping the older girl up in a tearful hug.

Smiling herself as she looked down at the younger girl, Luna knew that totally aside from the money issue that she had made the right decision to stay in this city and wait for the mail exchange. Bringing her arms around to wrap up Hotaru, Luna replied, "You do not owe me any thanks as it was your decision that we should wait here. Now why don't you read ChibiUsa-chan's letter while I cook some dinner for us."

"Hai." Hotaru replied before bounding away from Luna and then climbing the tree she had been using that afternoon. Finding her spot, she nestled in and after a brief look at the cards pulled out ChibiUsa's extremely long letter and began to read.

Down below as she lit the fire, Luna glanced up at Hotaru and seeing the massive grin on Hotaru's face couldn't help but smile. _ Yes things are really beginning to look up. _ Luna thought to herself before turning her attention back to the preparing dinner.

-End Chapter

I apologize for the extreme delay, but this spring and summer has been extremely busy for me with me putting in a lot of extra hours at work. However, that should be now over (at least for the time). Also chapter 8 is already written and will be going to my editors this weekend.


	9. Chapter 8: Awakenings

**Chapter 8: "Awakenings"**  
First Posted: 01/26/08  
Last Edited: 01/26/08

Disclaimer: A reminder, I own none of the characters of this story, all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only so freely and inform me of where you post it.

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Enjoying the morning sun as she walked to school, Ami's thoughts were on Mamoru's new found ability to join them once again in their battles. That ability, though, was proving to be a double edge sword for them. While his addition was quite welcome when they went up against the demon masters, his presence was detrimental when the Star Lights showed up, given that they appeared to be doing their best to kill him. Now, as Ami thought about it, this in itself wouldn't have been such an issue if Mamoru's assistance allowed them to defeat the demons by themselves. Unfortunately, that was not the case, he only allowed them to hold out a little better before the military or the Star Lights arrived.

However, Ami did have to admit that Mamoru's presence did prove to be sufficient to allow for the combined Senshi military force to be able to defeat the demons with relative ease, as happened three days ago. Before the process was a lot more drawn out and in all but one instance the Star Lights had arrived before they could fully dispense with the demon. _ I just hope that more of the fights are like that last one with Mamoru-san being able to fully support us as opposed to us having to protect him from the others till he can get away. _ Ami thought to herself. _ It is strange, though, that they would see him as a bigger threat than the demons, especially when he is obviously helping us to fight them. _

With how these outsiders were acting, a part of Ami was glad that Usagi was currently in a coma as she knew that her best friend would take the actions of those Senshi as a personal stab to her heart. Letting her mind play a scene with Sailor Moon down on her knees begging with those Senshi to work as allies, Ami grimaced as her mental image turned decidedly nasty with one of them, who might have been Sailor Star Fighter, killing the silver haired girl with a point blank blast through the chest. Feeling sick at that image and also a little vengeful, Ami shook her head so as to clear out those thoughts.

While shaking her head was successful in dislodging the image of the Star Lights killing Sailor Moon because she had too big of a heart, what now filled her thoughts was not that much better - that of the multiple times during the past month when Naru had been taken hostage. Besides the danger that Naru, one of Usagi's two best friends, had been put into each of those times, the first of those incidents also held the memory of how close they had come to loosing ChibiUsa. Thankfully the subsequent incidents had held nowhere near the danger that the first one did; they still had weighed heavily on ChibiUsa who had been beside herself each time that she had learned of Naru being taken hostage, something that put further pressure on the Sailor Senshi to make sure that they rescued Naru with no lasting injuries.

Realizing the apparent futility of thinking of something other than Sailor Senshi related items on her way to school, Ami decided to at least to try to focus on a slightly less depressing topic and so with some effort she schooled her thoughts to analytically review ChibiUsa's progress in healing. While ChibiUsa might not be a true Sailor Senshi, the infusion of energy from Hotaru appeared to have accelerated her healing rate. While the most likely cause of the rapid healing was Hotaru, a second less likely possibility that Ami had not mentioned to anyone else was the possibility that ChibiUsa might have some innate Sailor Senshi ability. While she knew that the powers of the Sailor Senshi were never passed down from mother to daughter, there was just too much unique about Usagi to fully discount that possibility. How Hotaru had done what she had, amazed Ami to no small degree and a part of her was quite annoyed that Hotaru was still at parts unknown. Of course that just meant that she had to wait for Hotaru to return to have her questions answered and Ami, who was typically a very patient girl, had been finding it uncharacteristically hard to wait.

That accelerated healing, however, was noticeably slowing day with each day and Ami suspected that by the time that the week was out that ChibiUsa would be reduced to healing at the rate of normal humans. Event still the accelerated healing had lasted long enough to heal the worst of the effects of the burns. Now the healing burns were no more different than that of bad first degree burns, which had removed the need for bandages and more importantly had substantially reduced the level of pain. The broken arm was a different story, though. While it would be healed in a fraction of the normal time, it was still going to be another day or two before ChibiUsa could fully get rid of the brace; though, now it was primarily there for when ChibiUsa's arm got tired and to remind the young girl that her arm was still injured.

Pausing as she came to a cross walk to wait for the light to change, Ami looked up at the rest of the world and was surprised to see that she was already at her school. Not even a year ago, zoning out while walking to and from school had been a typical habit of hers; though, following the incident at the airport she had mostly broken herself of that habit, having realized that she could not afford to let herself become so distracted that she was not aware of her surroundings. Mentally chastising herself for her slip up, Ami crossed the street and entered onto the school grounds. Passing by various small groups of students milling about, Ami headed over towards the tree that she and her friends often ate lunch under, planning on reading the next unread chapter in her math book.

Most days very few students paid attention to Ami as she entered onto the school grounds, as she was just the brainiac. The only really noteworthy item about her was that she hung out with the class ditz or had before Usagi had at the end of the end of the previous year been withdrawn from school for medical reasons. However, today a few of the students took notice of her arrival and began to talk in hushed whispers with their friends. One of the students who took notice of Ami's arrival was an auburn haired girl who typically liked to get to school closer to the bell. Today, however, as a result of having been tipped off by Umino, she had already been here for half an hour. Both breakfast and stopping by the Tsukino house so as to ChibiUsa to walk her school had been sacrificed to make sure that she was here when Ami arrived.

Hurrying over from where she had been standing on the steps of the school, Naru called out "Ami-chan!"

"Naru-chan?" Ami replied, some surprise evident in her voice due to Naru's unexpected presence at this early hour.

Naru, however, did not respond until she reached Ami, and then when she finally reached her, all she said was, "You need to come with me." before grabbing a hold of Ami's arm in order to pull the blue haired girl after her.

Not expecting the urgency of Naru's sudden action, Ami was pulled right off her feet without a chance to resist. Only her training as a Sailor Senshi kept her from promptly face planting into the ground as a result of the tug that spun her around; instead, Ami barely missed a step as she followed behind Naru. That is not to say that remaining on her own two feet as Naru dashed into the school barely dodging other students and cutting corners with the barest of margin did not require anything other than Ami's full attention.

Dodging out of the way of a door that suddenly opened as they passed it, Ami was reminded of that time months ago when she last experienced this unnerving dash. Thankfully unlike that time when it was Usagi helping to make sure that she made it to school on time, the worst that could happen to her now was a painful meeting with a wall, door, or student. There were no intersections to cross against the light with trucks barreling down the road. Remembering that she made it out of that way without injury, Ami tried to reassure herself that the same would hold true this time.

Ami was still repeating the mantra that she would be okay when Naru abruptly slowed to a walk. Bending over and resting her hands on her knees, Ami paused to both catch both her breath and to let her pulse calm as the adrenaline drained out of her system. Looking up a few moments later once she had calmed her breathing, and was surprised to find that they were in the library, all that she could remember of her trip through the school were the too close views of the many items that she had almost collided with.

Curious as to why Naru had brought her to the library and more so as to why the great urgency, Ami asked the still slightly winded Naru, "Naru-chan?"

Watching Naru practically fly into the room with Ami in tow, Umino smiled fairly confident that Naru had managed to get to Ami before any of the students had. Then once the two stopped to catch their breath, he stood up from where he was seated at the table while also grabbing the newspaper that he had been reading and walked over to them. When Ami asked her question, he was a bit surprised to notice that she had apparently fully recovered from her mad sprint. The only other student that he knew who could do something like that had been Usagi and that was only because her habitual lateness forced her sprint where every where she went. That was something he would have to think about later, but now was not the time, and so he absently made a mental note to add that tidbit to Mizuno Ami's dossier.

"Mizuno-chan, I apologize for our actions, but we felt that it best that you heard about this first from us." Umino replied in response to Ami's question.

"What do you mean?" Ami asked as she turned to look at Umino, not having noticed him till now.

"This" Umino replied as he held out a local newspaper so that Ami could see the photograph that consumed most of the front page - a photograph that showed Ami in her combat gear with a severely injured ChibiUsa held tightly to her chest with her left arm from that incident nearly a month ago.

Stunned by what she was seeing in front of her, Ami's absently took a few steps forward so that she could take a hold of the paper and examine in more closely. Her eyes racking in every detail, Ami noted that the photograph had obviously been taken just moments after she had escaped from that strange fog bank and out into the streets. While the others still seemed to think that she was the source of that fog, Ami couldn't see how that was the case. She after all was still unable to call upon her powers and unlike that other time, Youko had not been around to help. Not pausing to continue that mental debate, Ami pushed aside the memories of how she escaped to continue examining the photograph.

What she noticed next were her eyes. Her memory of the escape from the moment that had begun her to run with ChibiUsa in her arms was quite fuzzy, an after effect of how hard she had been pushing herself. But looking at the picture now, she felt a slight chill in seeing her eyes - eyes that showed a readiness to make life and death judgments at a moment's notice, an effect that was only accentuated by the rifle that was held ready in her right hand. _ Is that what I am? Am I a… _ Ami wondered to herself with jumbled thoughts as the realization that she truly was a soldier through and through was brought home to her. She was not some little girl doing her best to survive in an unfortunate situation. No those eyes were not ones for a victim of circumstances, they were the eyes of a professional battle hardened soldier.

At first glance, one might not think too much about the photo other than that the soldier captured in it was obviously young and most readers probably wouldn't have realized how young she actually due to the effect of the same expression that was giving her such pause. Unfortunately, someone had apparently closely examined the photograph and had noticed the bits of Ami's school fuku that were visible under her flak vest as well as the fact that she was wearing a school fuku skirt as opposed to JSDF pants. And, furthermore the headline writers along with the editors had decided to announce that fact in the form of the front page headline: "Military Recruiting Junior High School Girls."

Following that initial shock in seeing her photograph was despair, which quickly began to build as Ami rapidly scanned the article for any mention of her name. Finding no mention of either her name or that of her school, Ami gave a sigh of relief. Though as relieved as the absence of a mention made her feel, Ami also realized that it would not be very long before someone made the associate between her and the photograph. All that would really be required would be for one of her classmates to see the article and take a moment to look at the photo closely. Though, if the article had not drawn attention to the fact that the subject was school aged, she probably would have been okay as anyone noticing the similarities would have just pushed them off as being a coincidence. Unfortunately, that was not the case and Ami knew that it was now just a matter of time before everyone in school knew.

"Don't worry Ami-chan. We are still with you. You just need to be strong and this will blow over. Summer break is just around the corner and by the time we get back after a couple of weeks away everyone will have forgotten" Naru said to Ami, offering her words of encouragement.

Whereas the photograph had been a surprise to Ami, Naru had already been forewarned about it that being the reason why she had sought out Ami this morning. She had just gotten up when a frantic Umino had called her to tell her about the newspaper article. The two of them had quickly realized that they needed to get to Ami first, so as to allow their friend to prepare herself for what was likely to be an unpleasant day. Consequently, Naru had forgone breakfast so as to ensure that she got to school early enough to catch Ami before anyone else, while Umino for his part had made his way to the school's library where they were going to break the news to Ami.

"I'm afraid there is more." Umino said gaining him an unhappy glare from Naru as she guided Ami so that blue haired girl was seated at the table that Umino had been using. "While the original source article for this photograph had a very positive spin on your presence, this paper, instead, took a negative tack. This photograph was originally part of a photo essay that recently ran in a British tabloid that was trying to capture the essence of the seriousness of the battles fought by the Sailor Senshi against the demons. I have ordered a copy of that issue for you. The editor described you as a hero for saving that child and that you appeared to be just a school girl was used to drive home the seriousness of the situation. That was ChibiUsa wasn't it?"

"Hai it was." Ami replied

"I thought that it looked like her and I know how protective you all are of her." Umino said as he continued. "Unfortunately, when the contents of that tabloid were picked up over here, the reporters put their own perspective on the photo. Only in the third from final paragraph of the full page article does it mention that you may have been instrumental in saving ChibiUsa's life. Instead, most of this article along with other supporting articles in the paper and the editorial page lambaste the violent tendencies of today's youth and while they never came right out and said anything, I have the impression that paper sees the Sailor Senshi more as vigilantes that should be arrested than as heroes."

Hearing that, Ami further collapsed into herself, as she felt her world starting to fall apart around her. While nothing of course had yet happened, her mind was already playing out what would happen when she rejoined the student population.

"I wish I could make this go away for you Mizuno-chan, and I think that it is great that you have found a way to help the Sailor Senshi in their fight. Seeing the sacrifice you have put in after having known Usagi for such a short time makes me feel guilty for not having done anything myself. I have known her since grade school after all."

"Iie, don't feel guilty." Ami said as she reached out to lay a hand on Umino's arm with tears starting to now break through her control. Then with surprising conviction, she said "I have to fight against this evil. I wasn't strong enough to save Usagi and now I am even weaker, but if I can't use my magic, then I will use guns. And if I run out of guns, then I will use sticks and if I can't find any sticks, then I will use my hands."

Hearing Ami describe how she would keep fighting no matter what, Naru couldn't help smiling. Once again she was reassured that everything would turn out alright, for Ami and the others would not rest till the enemy had either been defeated or they had died trying. She also noticed that Ami's voice gained a little pride there was well. Naru just hoped that she could spark enough pride in Ami so that her blue haired friend would be able to survive the day.

Looking at Ami with his eyes widening in realization as suddenly all of the things that had been puzzling him over the past year began to fall into place, Umino said, "You're one of them aren't you? Usagi too."

"Hai, I am." Ami acknowledged knowing that there would be no use hiding this from Umino.

"You already knew didn't you?" Umino asked of Naru as he noticed that she did not seemed to be fazed by Ami's admission.

"Hai, I will explain things to you later. But Usagi was a bit too worried about ChibiUsa a while back and said a few more things than she should have." Naru said. And now that there had been sometime since that incident at the mall and Tokyo Tower, she could make light of them.

Focused as the three of them were on the article, none of them realized how much time they had spent in the library and as such they were all surprised when the first bell rang moments after Naru made her comment. Gathering up her things, Ami tried to gain a firm handle on her emotions for what could potentially be a very trying day.

Standing up first, Naru placed a hand on Ami's shoulder, causing the other girl to pause in her actions. "Ami-chan no matter what anyone else thinks you are a hero doing what you did that day. I am sure that if it had not been for you neither ChibiUsa nor I would still be alive today. Keep your perspective and feel pride in what you did."

"Hai, Naru's right. This just proves that you are even more amazing than we already knew. Not only are you an ace in academics but you kick ass as well." Umino said, stumbling a bit to come up the phrase of 'kick ass.'

Smiling her thanks, Ami finished getting up from the table and then with her two friends beside her, she left the library. She, however, did not get very far before a very stern voice stalled her.

"Mizuno-san" said the vice-principal as he spotted the school's blue haired celebrity.

"Yes Hayuga-sama?" Ami replied as she turned to face her vice-principal.

"Please come with me, we have something to discuss."

"Hai," Ami replied as she left Naru and Umino to fall in step behind the vice-principal.

As Hayuga led Ami to his office, Ami wanted to ask him what he wanted to see her about. Her tongue was stilled, however, by the extreme aura of displeasure that he was radiating. Instead, Ami tried to think of what she had done that necessitated a trip to his office. It had been some weeks since the last time she had to leave in the middle of the school day due to an attack, which only left this morning's paper as the reason.

Passing by the main entrance, the complete silence of their walk was broken by one of the male students yelling out, "Hey it's Mizuno-san, better run the other way in case she decides to shoot!" as he spied her to the laughter of his friends.

Embarrassed but somewhat relieved that this group of her peers did not really understand what the article was about, Ami kept her head down and tried to not give off any reaction. She was thankfully that Umino and Naru had taken the time to warn her this morning, a gratitude that increased substantially as she passed by other students who made more serious and in some cases some fairly crude comments. Oddly, Hayuga did not reprimand a single one of those students and as such even though Ami had been forewarned, by the time they arrived at Hayuga's office, Ami was wondering how she was going to make it through the day, especially as she did not have Usagi to give her the strength that she knew that she was going to need.

Entering into his office, Hayuga Hiashi said, "Mizuno-san, please take a seat." before walking around to take his own seat at his desk.

"Hayuga-sensei what is that you need to speak to me about?" Ami asked, doing her best to keep any trembling out of her voice.

In a matter of response, Hiashi picked up the newspaper that was on his desk and plopped it down in front of her. "Would you care to explain this?" He asked in a tone that made it clear that she had no choice but to explain.

"The child that I am holding in that photo is a good friend of mine and she was nearly killed during that demon attack." Ami said, beginning her explanation.

"I don't care about that. What I want to know is what one of my students is doing holding a gun and obviously playing soldier with the Self Defense Force. And, especially why she is doing it while wearing her school uniform. Are you aware of how your actions are reflecting on this school? You do know that any after school employment must be approved by the school and that under no circumstances would we approve a student working for the military."

"Demo…" Ami said trying to interject.

Waving Ami off, Hiashi said, "I don't care what your excuse is. Your actions have reflected very unfavorably on this institution. And, that you are one of our top notched students make this even worse. You are suspended starting today and you will be contacted regarding your expulsion hearing shortly."

"Demo, ChibiUsa-chan would have died if I had not been there." Ami finally yelled out in her defense.

"And that girl would never have been in that trouble if it hadn't been for those Sailor Senshi. They and your military friends are just staging these events for their own benefit. Now get out of my office."

_ How could he? _ Ami, with tears beginning to leak from her eyes, asked herself as she stood up. Then picking up her bag, she dejectedly turned and left. Entering into the lobby of the office area, Ami noticed that Hiashi's opinion was not unique with everyone either looking at her as she was some kind of delinquent or as something to be pitied. No one gave any indication that they thought what she did to save ChibiUsa was anything to be proud of.

When Ami finally left the school grounds some minutes later, she finally let her composure fully collapse. Adrift, Ami walked along the streets in a daze, barely paying attention to the traffic and not even noticing the comments that she was getting. With nowhere to be, Ami's feet guided her towards a place where she could at least loose herself in her work – the research facility.

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Sitting in her chair, Ami looked up at the clock and noticed that a couple of hours had already passed and that she had done nothing more than open her email program. She had not even looked to see if she had gotten new mail, which she now noticed that she had. She just could not believe that the school had actually suspended her for risking her life to save ChibiUsa and Naru and what was even worse was that Hayuga-sensei seemed to think that she should have just allowed ChibiUsa to be killed. _ I would understand if they were upset about me not following the rules and getting permission, but they want to kick me out. _ Ami thought as tears that she had been fighting against since she rushed out of the school threatened to leak out..

She had known ever since she had first called upon her birthright that her dreams of becoming a doctor were going to be harder to reach and might even be no longer open to her. But even still, she had never expected that she would have them so painfully ripped away from her. With an expulsion on her record, she would be lucky to get into even a mid-quality high school and she did not even want to think about college. And then there was the dishonor that she had brought her mother. Before the sacrifices were all her own, but now she had brought her mother into this. She had no idea how much face her mom would lose at work, but suspected that it would be quite a bit. It was hard enough for a woman to rise as high as her mom had and now she might have just torpedoed her mother's career. With her mom being a doctor, the revelation that Ami was playing soldier on the side would hurt her mom even more so than if her mom was working in some other field.

"Mizuno-san what are you doing letting those idiots get to you like that." A boisterous voice yelled out as Ami's office door was practically thrown open.

Looking up at her visitors, Ami saw that a handful of the base MP's were crowding into her office.

"We just heard about what happened. Don't let those blowhards at your school get you down."

"Hai, that is right. If they don't want you there anymore then I say good riddance. We all know what you are made of."

"Hai, Urameshi is right, while we weren't part of that group of MPs that you took out as an advance force, we have heard of what you did. Now there is a bit of an after mission tradition, which we let slide before given that you were just in Junior High and all. But now that that isn't an issue anymore it is time to make up time."

"Nani?" Ami asked, hoping that they would leave soon so that she could go back to listing how badly her life had collapsed.

"Why, getting you completely plastered!" the solider that had been identified as Urameshi answered with a straight face, which quickly broke into a grin when he saw Ami's reaction.

"Uh…" was Ami's only response.

"Nope" another one of the MPs said as he waved a finger in front of her face so as to head off any objection. "If they want to kick you out of school for fighting with the military then you deserve all the rights of an adult. Plus don't you have diplomatic immunity or something." The last bit was added as he remembered hearing something about the Sailor Senshi being members of some ancient empire.

"And anyways, Sergeant Mao is already making all of the arrangement for your induction as an SRT member. I am just glad that we were still here, since this means that we get to come to your induction and all of the free booze."

"Oh and so that the bartender can look the other way, you will need to change into these. The Quarter Master thinks that they should be in your size. We will need to get your requisition in for a full set of uniforms later." Urameshi said as he tossed Ami a bundle of clothing.

Catching the clothing Ami watched as the group stepped out of her office, closing the door behind themselves, so that she could change. Holding the just received BDUs to her chest as if they were a lifeline, tears once again formed in her eyes as she realized that these soldiers that she barely knew really did appear to care about her. While she was hesitant to go with them to a bar, she didn't want to ruin things even more than she had, she was also reaching her breaking point. _ What would Usagi advise me to do? _ Ami thought to herself. Then with her first smile since her world had fallen apart, her mind provided her with an image of Usagi complaining about how unfair that she couldn't go the party with all of the cute guys.

Putting the bundle of clothes down on her desk, a now more upbeat Ami unbuttoned her blouse. Slipping it off of her shoulder, her eyes and fingers traced a portion of the scar that Youko had given her. _ I guess I should have seen this coming. I was stretching myself too thin trying to be too many things at once. _ Ami thought as he put on the BDU blouse. _ And I lost sight of what was important. I should have realized that when Youko gave me this scar, but now the problem has been taken out of my hands. _ Then as she slipped out of her skirt and put on the trousers, Ami began to reprioritize her life. Standing back up, dressed in the borrowed battle dress uniform, Ami verbally spoke the first part of her reprioritization "Well in that case I will just have to be the best soldier possible. If can't be a doctor then I will be a general."

"Glad to hear that" the MP who had given her the clothes said as Ami open the door to her office, causing Ami to blush red, having realized that the MPs had all heard her.

"There is nothing to be ashamed about." Urameshi said. "You are a darn good soldier and we all appreciate your skills unlike those morons at your school who want you to fit into their mold of what an ideal student should be."

"Now come on, we still have a bit of a drive to get the bar, given that it is over at Zima."

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With the morning's surgery now complete, Rikou began to wash up and as she did so she was able to finally let her mind focus on the worries that she had to push aside for the sake of her patient. She had fretted over her daughter ever since a friend at the hospital had shown her the morning's paper. Taking the paper to look at the article at the apparent scandal at her daughter's school, Rikou had nearly dropped the paper when she saw the photograph of her daughter. Thankfully her friends had misunderstood her reaction, having not made the connection between the unnamed junior-high student and Ami.

It was probably a good thing that she had surgeries booked all morning, as Rikou didn't know how she would have been able to make it through the day without becoming over worried about her daughter. While she doubted many students actually read the newspaper, there would inevitably be just enough who did and who recognized Ami's face for the word to get out. Rikou was sure that by now the entire school knew and for as strong as Ami had gotten with Usagi's guidance, Rikou had no illusions that something like this had the potential to crush her daughter's spirit. She just hoped that the teachers did their job and helped Ami out.

"Mizuno-san you have an urgent message. It is from one of Ami's school teachers, a Haruna-sensei." The scheduler for her group called out to her when she entered into the office space.

Accepting the note with thanks, Rikou hurried to her office, dreading what she was going to learn. She was a bit curious, though, as to why Haruna-sensei would be calling given that Ami no longer had her as a teacher. Of course given that Haruna knew the truth, Rikou figured that Haruna was probably better suited for helping Ami and maybe that was the reason why she had been the one to call. Absently noticing the flashing voice mail light, Rikou picked up her phone and dialed.

"Moshi Moshi," came the response on the other end of the line.

"Haruna-sensei, this is Mizuno Rikou"

"Mizuno-san I am glad that you were able to return my call." Haruna said in a very relieved voice. "First I must ask have you heard anything from the school?"

"No I haven't, I thought that was why you were calling?" Rikou replied confused.

"Hai, that is what I was calling about. However, I am not calling on behalf of the school, but as friend of Ami's. I am glad that I am talking to you first. I am sure that you are aware of the article in today's Dispatch?"

"Hai, I am. One of my coworkers showed it to me this morning and I have been quite worried about how things may be for Ami."

"I am afraid that they are not good at all. I too was quite worried about how the students might react to Ami when I saw that article. Unfortunately, it was not the students that I should have been worried about. It was the administration."

"Nani?"

"Hai, they reacted very poorly to Ami participating in a military operation. They have suspended her from school while they await her formal expulsion."

"NANI!!" Rikou yelled into her phone alerting everyone else in the suite that something was up.

"Hai, I am afraid so. I heard about it second hand from the faculty rumor mill during lunch. I confronted the principal and even spoke on the phone to the superintendent. They all are very set on expelling her from school and unfortunately, the school rules are such that they can do that."

"Demo…" Rikou began but trailed off unable to complete her thought.

"Mizuno-san I know this must be tough on you. Why don't I swing by the hospital and we can go get a bite at a coffee shop or something."

"Arigato, but what about your classes? I really shouldn't pull you away from your students."

"It's okay Mizuno-san, I left today. With what they are doing to Ami, there is no way that I can continue to work there."

"Haruna-sensei…" Rikou began not sure of how to respond to that little bombshell.

"Do not worry about it Mizuno-san. This is something that I had been thinking about for a while; today was just the final straw. Don't get me wrong I did like working there and teaching the kids. But I am unable to stand idly by and watch them unfairly attack either your daughter or Kino Makoto. A few months back, just after the incident, I came close to leaving over how they were treating Makoto. I have enough savings so I can take a little vacation before finding my next employment."

"Arigato for all you have done for Ami and Makoto. I wish the circumstances were better and I wish you well in your future. When you do start applying again, I will be more than happy to be a reference for you."

"Arigato Mizuno-san. When you talk to her, let Ami know that I am here for her and that she can feel free to call me."

"Hai, I will do. Sayonara Haruna-sensei."

"Sayonara." Haruna replied as the line went dead.

Putting down the phone, Rikou sighed with how bad the situation had become. Right now she very much wanted to go find her daughter and pull her into a hug. She could only imagine what Ami might be feeling after having been suspended and with the threat of expulsion hanging over her head. A year ago she would have been worried that Ami might get too depressed and contemplate suicide and while she had no illusion that the depression would be any less now, Ami did have one thing going for her that would keep any foolish ideas of suicide at bay – her duty. That was one thing her talk with Usagi, way back when she had first learned the truth about Ami, had elicited that for Ami her duty as a Sailor Senshi trumped everything else. Unfortunately, Rikou highly suspected that same sense of obligation made Ami feel her current loss of powers even more so.

Figuring that Ami would probably have retreated to that research facility for solace, given how much time she had been spending there of late and knowing how her daughter liked to lose herself in work to hide from problems, Rikou decided that she probably did not need to rush out to be by Ami's side. Furthermore as it was now almost two, any acute problems would already have been dealt with and as such it was better for her to start dealing with the chronic elements and the first part of that was to check her voice mail.

Listening to the messages from the school, Rikou's mood began to darken at the idiocy of the school administrators. Surprisingly there were quite a few messages from both the school and the superintendent's office. She had expected maybe two or three at most, but after listening to a half a dozen she began to wonder why they felt the need to tell her so many times and in so many ways how much of a disgrace her daughter was. By the time that she had finished listening to the messages she was quite annoyed.

Now she needed to talk to her daughter and to find out how Ami was doing for her own sake. She knew that Ami was strong and would not have been reduced to a quivering crying lump as a result of her ordeal, but her mind kept replaying the scene of an utterly distraught Ami. Bringing up her email program, she located the contact information that Ami had provided her for the research facility.

Dialing the number she waited while the call connected and then transferred to Ami's line. Waiting as the phone rang, she began to get nervous when Ami did not pick up right away. By the time of the fourth ring she was starting to wonder if she had been mistaken about Ami heading there for solace. When the call transferred to Ami's voice mail, she began to get beside herself with worry; however, she did have the presence of mind to punch in zero to jump out of the voice mail system and to be transferred to one of the administrative assistants instead.

"Moshi moshi, this is Mizuno Rikou" Rikou said in a clearly nervous voice when the admin picked up.

"Mizuno-san, I am afraid Ami is out with some of the soldiers right now."

"Then she did come there?" Rikou asked with obvious relief in her voice.

"Hai, she arrived here around ten this morning. Everyone here was devastated when we heard what had happened to her at school today. Some of the base security personal decided that Ami needed some cheering up and took her out shortly before noon. They said not to expect Ami back till late; apparently the SRT personnel have decided to throw a little party for Ami to wash away her troubles."

Hearing that, Rikou's mood dramatically improved. With Ami in caring hands, she would not need to worry about Ami and hopefully this party would help to take some of the edge of Ami's pain. Thanking the other woman for her time, Rikou hung up the phone. So happy she was with the turn of events that she did not even consider for a moment what kind of party soldiers might throw and whether it would be appropriate for a Junior High girl.

With that taken care of it was now time to head on down to the lobby so that she could meet up with Haruna for a late lunch. With her morning procedures she hadn't had anything to eat since quite early in the morning and was consequently quite hungry. Leaving her office, she stopped by the group's admin and let him know that she would be out for the rest of the afternoon as a result of family issues. Her late lunch with Haruna would not take all afternoon, but she still needed to stop by the school and give the administrators a piece of her mind. It would not help anything and would actually probably hurt Ami's case, but she figured that salvaging Ami's schooling was already beyond any hope and so she might as well get the personal satisfaction of letting loose.

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_ Finally _ Rei thought to herself when the ringing of the bell announced the end of the school day. She had been feeling ill at ease all day long and was glad that the day was now over. Ever since she had woken up this morning she had been expecting the proverbial second shoe to drop. She had no idea what her feeling of ill ease was associated with, which just made it even worse. She had been very tempted to skip school this morning to try and do a fire reading, but she had not felt like explaining what she was feeling to her grandfather, something told her to keep it from him. She had, though, given Ami a call via their communicators on the way to school to see if her friend was sensing anything, but Ami had not been affected by the ill omen.

While her training of Ami was still in the infancy stage, Ami did have a fair amount of natural talent and Rei was sure that if anything truly big was to happen today then Ami would have been sensitive to it as well. Consequently, Ami's inability to sense anything had reassured Rei sufficiently that she had been able to push those feelings to the back of her mind and continued on to school. However, as the day wore on it became harder and harder to ignore them and as such she was quite relieved now as the bell rung announcing the end of the school day.

"Hino-san," The voice of the nun who taught the last class called out as Rei and the other began to gather their stuff.

"Yes, Sister Alesia?" Rei asked as she paused in her packing and looked up.

"I couldn't help but noticing that you appeared to be distracted today." Alesia replied.

"I am sorry for that. It is just that I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen today. I don't know idea why and the sensation has been distracting."

Placing a comforting hand down on Rei's arm, Alesia said in a gentle voice that also brokered no refusal "Then why don't you come with me and we can seek guidance for what is troubling your soul together."

Nodding her understanding, Rei finished gathering the last of her belongings and then got up to follow the elderly nun. While Rei would have preferred heading to the shrine for her meditations, using the sanctuary here did have the benefit of allowing her to start meditating right away.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

As much as Rei was happy when the final school bell finally rung for the day, Ryo was even more relieved. He had spent the better part of the day fending off comments or questions regarding Ami's extracurricular activities. As soon as word got around that Ami had been suspended, the student body had turned to Ami's friends and especially him for their answers. Makoto, though, had gotten off fairly light, between her own reputation and now Ami's reputation most students had decided to give her a wide berth. Thinking about that, a voice in the back of Ryo's mind had commented that things would be far easier if he was still bound to Beryl and not Hotaru now, as a few dead bodies would be sure to end the questions as well as ensuring that the other students did not bother Ami either.

Shivering in revulsion as soon as those thoughts came to him, Ryo wondered where they had come from. Even though his soul had done terrible things under Beryl, he wasn't a killer, was he? Though, if he thought about it some more it was more complicated than that as there was a gulf of differences between his original soul and how it had been reborn. For Ami and the others for whom there were only minor differences in their souls, their past and present selves were essentially the same person and while their souls might still have a slight dichotomy, they were still for all practice a single reconciled soul. However, for Ryo those differences had resulted in the past and present parts of his soul simply tolerating each other instead of reconciling into a whole soul. The only times when the two halves acted as one was when they needed to protect Ami, as she was precious to both of them.

Walking out of the school, the ancient part of his soul couldn't help but to consider the other option that he could have gone with instead of turning against Zoicite. While forsaking Ami was never an option, Ami very likely would have willingly allowed herself to be taken his prisoner if he had decided to join Zoicite. And while it would have taken time, he would have eventually broken both Ami and her alter ego Sailor Mercury to his will. _ No I could never do that to Ami-chan. _ Ryo thought to himself, knowing that if he had done that, the fire that made Ami who she was would have been extinguished.

"Urawa-san?" An unfamiliar questioning female voice called out, distracting Ryo from his thoughts, as he reached the curb.

"Hai?" Ryo replied.

"I am Captain Carter." Carter said, her voice clearly conveying her happiness in lucking out and finding who she had been looking for. With only a photo from Ami's office to go on her odds had been quite dismal in finding him amidst all of those that attended the Juban Junior High School and that was assuming that he and Ami attended the same school, something that Carter had just hoped was the case.

"You work with Ami, right?" Ryo replied, recognizing the name.

"Hai, and I am on my way to a party that the SRT personal are throwing to try and cheer her up and was wondering if you would like a lift?"

"Hai." Ryo replied enthusiastically before following her to where she had parked her car.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Later, as they were leaving Tokyo proper, Ryo asked, "How is she?"

"From what I have been told she was barely holding herself together when she came in this morning. Unfortunately, I was in the lab then and did not hear about what had happened until I broke for a late lunch." Carter replied, with obvious guilt in her voice. Of all of the people in the research facility she had, surprisingly to herself, found herself bonding with the young Senshi. It was not as if the two of them had a huge amount in common, but even still Ami's combat experience had allowed the two of them to connect on a level that the civilian contractors couldn't and while Ami used magic she was nothing like the various wizards and witches. One other thing that the two of them did have in common was an incredible thirst for knowledge and a desire to solve every problem that they were faced with and as such, one could often find them in one or the other's office discussing some element of magic theory and trying to figure out how it fit in with the rest of science.

"Hopefully she is doing better now. From what I understand the SRT personal were going to help her remember what is important and let her know that they all stand with her." Carter said after taking a few moments to push away her guilt. She supposed that some of the guilt that she was feeling was that to a certain extent that Ami also reminded her of her friend's stepdaughter. She wasn't quite sure why that was the case, but she couldn't help but to think about Cassie when she thought about Ami.

"I just hope that Ami is able to bounce back this time. She was hit very hard with what happened to Sailor Moon. Even though there is no reason for it, she still blames herself for not being able to save her." Ryo said.

Reaching out a hand to her left, Carter rested it on Ryo's shoulder. "Don't worry about it; Ami is in good hands with us. We will look after her. She is going to have a whole facility full of big brothers, sisters, second moms and fathers after today."

"Arigato." Ryo said with some of his worries beginning to dissipate.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

As the afternoon began to draw to a close, Alesia and Rei were disturbed from their respective prayers and meditations when they felt a presence of pure evil enter the sanctuary. Turning around as she raised herself from her knees and into a low crouch, Rei came face to face with a well dressed man. Confused by the unexpectedness of the well dressed man and the absence of the expected demon, Rei slowly continued on up from her crouch so as to stand. The sense of evil violating the sanctity of this place, however, was still present and Rei remained on guard.

"Can I help you?" Alesia calmly asked, showing no outward signs that she had been just disturbed from her prayers by evil violating the sanctuary.

"Yes, you can, by showing me your dreams." The man said moments before snapping his finger, binding the nun to a table and revealing himself to be one of the demon masters.

_ Damn, he was the source of the evil. _ Rei thought as she was moved to action. Quickly diving behind one of the pews for safety she activated the panic button on her communicator before considering her options.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

When Ryo arrived at Zima, he was surprised to find a quite tipsy Ami in the middle of a poker game. Just finding Ami drinking would have been surprise enough, but to find that she was drunk sent his mind for a loop, not to mention that she was apparently gambling as well. Though, any thoughts that this was some impostor and not the real Ami were immediately derailed when Ami reflexively asked if he had collected her school assignments. Quite a few of the soldiers found themselves coughing up after choking on their drink following that comment and Ryo who should have expected something like that was saved from falling to the ground by Carter's quick reflexes.

Shaking his head in amusement as he walked over to her, Ryo said, "Ami-chan, don't you ever change." before his thoughts turned internal _ and this is why staying with Beryl and breaking Ami was never an option. _ Reaching Ami, he leaned down intending to give her a kiss on her forehead. However, Ami had a slightly different idea and tilted her head so that they ended up sharing a nice long passionate one instead.

Smiling at Ryo, who was standing quite stunned and red in the face amongst the cat calls, Carter navigated him down into a chair before heading over to the bar to get herself a drink. As for Ami, with her inhibitions sufficiently liberated, she had taken no notice of the attention she had gathered with her enthusiastic greeting of her boyfriend. Instead, she turned back to her poker game.

"Ami-chan, I did not know that you played poker." Ryo said a couple minutes later as he watched his girlfriend pull in another pile of coins, bills, and IOUs.

"Hai, she has become quite the card shark. While she was a little slow out of the gate, once she had polished off her first drink she began to clean house." A female sergeant who was watching the game replied. Then after taking a moment to chug back a beer, she held out her hand and said, "I'm Sergeant-Major Mao. I lead one of the Special Response Teams. And from that little demonstration earlier I assume that you must be Ami's boyfriend."

"Hai, I am. I am Urawa Ryo and it's nice to meet you, I am glad for all that everyone has done to help Ami."

"It was our pleasure. While I have not personally had the opportunity to work with her yet, I am quite looking forward to it." Then turning her attention to the poker game and noticing that even many of the fairly drunk were starting to realize that you don't gamble with Mizuno Ami, Mao turned to Ami and with a smile gave the smaller girl a slap on her back. "Gees girl, if you ever find yourself short on cash you could just clean out a casino." Mao said before raising her beer to toast Ami's success.

Giggling in response, Ami met Mao's glass with her own before taking a sip of the beer.

"So who's in for another hand?" Ami asked after taking a long drink as she returned her attention to the table.

Thankfully for the soldiers who would be buying a lot of beer but drinking none of it for some time to come, Ami's communicator sounded.

Her features quickly schooling back into attention, Ami activated her communicator, "Ami here." She said, managing to not give too much of an indication as to how drunk she was.

Listening as Rei described the attack, Ami replied, "I'm on my way." Then turning to the others, she said now with a more pronounced slur to her words, "Gomen, but I have to go."

"Ami-chan are you sure…" Ryo began to ask, rightly thinking that Ami was in no condition to go into battle.

However, Ami did not pay him any attention. Instead, she stood up and reaching out her hand in a quick flicking motion she called out in a firm voice, "Mercury Crystal Power Make-Up!"

Then to the surprise of all present expect for the plastered Ami, a blue sphere of energy formed in the palm of her hand. If one looked closely enough one would be able to see that the sphere of energy contained the sigil of Mercury intertwined with that of a harp. The sphere of energy quickly solidified into a crystal, which was soon seated on top of the handle of what was obviously a transformation wand, a wand that Ami grabbed a hold of before moments before cutting down sharply before drawing the wand around her body as it trailed a line of blue energy while the harp and sign of Mercy spun within the crystal.

Shocked the most by what was happening, Ryo could only stare as the pulsing blue energy enveloped Ami's body, disintegrating her clothing. Once Ami was fully naked, a final pulse came from deep within her that formed into her Sailor Fuku. With the transformation only taking seconds in its entirety, Ami was already moving towards the door before Ryo could snap out of his shock over Ami having regained her ability to henshin. Ami, however, did not make it farther than a few steps on her way to the door as her henshin did nothing to reduce her alcohol induced haze and as such she managed to trip over her own two feet while falling on top of Ryo.

Smiling as he watched the blue haired beauty land on her boyfriend in a fairly intimate position, Sergeant Sato, who had been watching Ami fleece his fellow soldiers out of their beer money, used his small disposable camera to snap a few photos. He was sure that quite a few of the other SRT members would love to have such a lovely photo and at minimum he was sure that the boy would want some. After all, the two of them looked quite cute there, especially with how the now contently snoring Ami was snuggling up against him.

Hitting his head on the bar's floor was enough to snap Ryo out of his shock. Instinctively wrapping his arms around Ami, he looked down and smiled as he saw that she was indeed in her Sailor Fuku. Seeing that, he whispered, "Congratulations Ami-chan, you regained your powers. I think that now makes this a positive day." before leaning forward to give her a light kiss on her brow.

Walking up beside the two lovers who were on the ground, Sergeant-Major Mao said "Dang that is one way to sober people up and I am not talking about her little peep show." in between shivers, having noticed the frost that had formed on the various glasses as a result of Ami's henshin.

"Hai, I think her lack of ability to henshin for the past few months caused a bit of a backlash to buildup in her magic." Ryo said from his place on the ground not quite ready to move.

"You can say that again." Mao replied. "Well I guess the party is over now that our guest of honor has passed out. I can say this, she has me reconsidering those science types, who knew they could be such party animals."

Smiling in response, Ryo adjusted how Ami was laying on him so that he could sit up. "Well I better take Ami on home." Ryo said once Ami was in a position that he could lift her from.

"No, I don't think so lover boy." Mao said.

"Nani?"

"Once the two of you have gone through Mao's sex education class I will trust her with you in situations like this. But right now, she is coming back with me so that I can keep an eye on her."

"Demo…" Ryo said as his face blushed furiously red from Mao's connotations.

"Don't bother arguing. I know that you aren't planning on doing something like that. But I can't be sure that Mizuno-san wouldn't want to do something like that with her inhibitions lifted. And, I am sure that with the right prodding that she would overcome your own. I saw the way you reacted to her little stunt, you, all the men and a fair number of the women in here. Once I know the two of you will take the right precautions, then you can care for her when she gets wasted; not that I think that she will ever be getting this drunk again. This was a once in life time event letting her make a complete break from her old way of life." Mao said.

Then reaching down and lifting Ami up, she said, "And don't worry, I will see about setting up the lesson for the two of your in the near future." Now walking back to the poker table she pocketed some of Ami's winnings for the girl while giving a nod of her head to the bartender letting him know that he should use the rest to set up a tab for Ami with a fairly substantial credit.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Half a world away as Ami was regaining her ability to henshin; two young adults were receiving unique packages from a good friend who tended to have a very unique way of seeing the world. One of those two young adults was a red headed girl who had been in the process of eating her breakfast when an owl had swooped in to deliver the package by deftly dropping it onto the table besides her plate before leaving without pause. Curious both about who was sending her mail and what she had just been sent, Ginny paused in eating her breakfast. Reaching out so as to move the package so that it was closer to her, she noticed that it had a series of small holes along the top of its sides. Now even more confused, Ginny slipped the piece of parchment that was rolled up and attached to the top and then after unrolling it began to read.

It did not take Ginny long to identify Luna as the writer of the letter. Though, that still left the reason for the package unknown, a reason that the letter did not shed any light on. Even with reading the entire letter twice, the only thing Ginny was sure of at the moment was that Luna both written her the letter and decided to send whatever was in the box. As much as Luna was a good friend of Ginny that did not mean she any better than the next person at decoding Luna's logic, which this letter had in spades. Apparently from what Ginny was able to gather she had some sort of destiny that she was supposed to claim so as to "awaken the White Moon from the shadows" and whatever Luna had sent her was supposed to help her do that. Though, how she was supposed to wake this White Moon or even what the White Moon was supposed to be Ginny had no idea.

_ Why couldn't it have been something along the lines of helping a green eyed boy fight the shadows_ Ginny thought to herself as she put the letter down, letting herself momentarily indulge in her fantasy before locking away those emotions. _ He will never see me that __way; I'__m__ too much of a sister to him. And even if he did begin to see me that way, Ron has made sure that Harry would never develop those feelings. _ Ginny's final thought, of course, being spawned by how Ron was acting over her current boyfriend, which made her sure that he did not consider any boy good enough for her.

Sighing as she finished putting away fantasies that could never be, Ginny heard her brother mutter something under his breath. While she did not hear the words, she had a pretty good idea of what he had muttered and her anger briefly flashed for a moment. Though, instead of lashing out, she reigned in the words that she wanted to say, as she did not want to get into trouble with her mother this early in the morning. Then once she had sufficiently calmed, Ginny said, "It is none of your business if Dean were to send me a gift and for your information it was not from him. It's from Luna."

"Luna?" Ron replied surprise clearly on his voice.

"Yes, now do you have a problem with her sending me letters and packages?" Ginny asked in a voice that clearly was asking him to make the wrong reply.

Hearing his sister's tone, Ron's face paled as he realized that he was very close to being hexed and so in a more contrite voice he replied, "No." before turning back to his meal.

Smirking internally, Ginny turned her attention fully back to the box, forgetting about her brother. After taking a few moments to untie the ropes that held the lid in place, Ginny began to remove the cover and as she did so she eagerly looked inside, anxious to see what Luna had deemed to be the key to claiming her destiny. What she found staring back at her, however, was not at all what she expected and furthermore was something that was not prepared to handle either and so she screeched in fright. If it had been a giant spider, some dark creature, or even a bloodied body part, Ginny probably would have been able to handle it. After all, having grown up with six brothers, two of them being the infamous twins, and having just recently fought Death Eaters in the ministry left very little that could faze the red headed witch.

Snakes, however, were one thing that Ginny was quite terrified of; though, normally she could fully suppress the terror that they instilled in her and it was only when she was startled or saw a particularly viscous one that she felt fear. However, unlike Ron with his more irrational fear of spiders, her fear of snakes was more symbolic for what had happened during her first year at school when she had been possessed and had been forced to unleash a basilisk on the school. While that event was long over, she still lived with the fear that she would somehow be possessed again or that the knowledge that she was the one behind the attacks would get out. Only a small handful of people knew that it was she who was the one who had commanded the basilisk to attack the students and now as she stared into the eyes of the snake that Luna had sent her, she feared that Luna knew the truth. There was after all no other reason to send her a snake so as to claim her destiny.

"Is there something wrong, master?" the snake hissed in its language, which Ginny was able to understand.

Watching its master further pale on hearing its voice, the snake began to worry that something might be the matter with the child that was to be its master and so concerned the snake began to raise itself out of its box. Though, in doing so Ron saw the brightly colored serpent and yelled "Snake!" He had been warily eyeing the package, not fully mollified that it was only Luna sending Ginny a package as his mind began to consider the possibility that Luna was just acting as an intermediary to throw him off.

Hearing a loud voice that did not belong to its master, the snake froze and looked up towards Ginny who in the tongue of snakes whimpered "Why did Luna send me a snake? Does… does she know?" completely unaware of what was happening outside of her and the snake.

"If you mean the one who selected me, she said that I would be the perfect familiar for the daughter of the Snake and that I would need to prepare her to join with the son of the Lion so as to bring hope back to the dying star."

"The daughter of the Snake?"

"Yes, you are our true master, one of pure heart and with the strength of spirit necessary to protect that which is important to you in every way possible."

The snake's final words brought the memory of the battle at the Ministry to mind and Ginny whispered, "Harry."

"Yes, the Son of the Lion."

Ginny's mother, Molly, who had been alerted to something potentially threatening one of her children by Ron's yell following Ginny's shriek, had been growing more and more concerned as she heard the harsh incomprehensible sounds of the language that Ginny was speaking. Then after watching the exchange for a few moments, she decided that the snake must be bewitching her daughter and firmly said, "Ginny get away from that box and I will get rid of it."

Becoming aware once again that there were other people around, Ginny was startled to find that her family all had their wands out and pointed at the box. Realizing that they meant to destroy the snake, Ginny suddenly felt a well of protectiveness and as she reached her hand into the box so that the snake could coil around it, she definitely said, "No, he is not a threat."

"Ginny what do you think you are doing?" Molly asked, uncertain as to why her daughter had just let that snake coil around her arm. Even if it wasn't for the fact that the snake appeared to have had Ginny hypnotized a few moments ago, the snake's bright coloring could only mean that it was incredibly poisonous.

"Tom was wrong. He is not the heir of Slytherin; I am." Ginny said with firm conviction that was surprising even to her as turned to face her mother.

Feeling her blood run cold at those words, Molly stood stock still afraid that Ginny had been somehow repossessed. Similarly, her brothers Ron, Fred, George, and Percy, who were also in the kitchen, froze, each clearly remembering the terror that the heir of Slytherin had unleashed on the school just three and a half years earlier.

"He falsely claimed that title so as to feel bigger than he was, as if he was the direct descendent of Slytherin. However, as much as the Slytherin house has come to represent dark wizards now, Slytherin was still one of the four great wizards and witches that founded Hogwarts. And, if I want to stand beside my love then I can no longer run away from who I am. Running away is why I fell to Tom my first year and now I am claiming my rights back from that demented soul." Ginny emphatically stated.

Awed by her daughter's words, the conviction they were spoken with, and the slight aura that she could feel from her daughter, Molly could only dumbly nod her understanding. Till now, she could count on one hand the number of times that she had felt another's aura and in each of those times it was Dumbledore's. But now she had felt the same from her daughter and that humbled her greatly. That said, Molly was still very unsatisfied with the current situation, but having been humbled she was willing to wait till she talked with Dumbledore before she confronted her daughter again. Her daughter's normal fiery tempered with the power that she apparently had made tackling her daughter head on foolish.

Relaxing as she saw her family drop their wands, Ginny once again returned her attention fully back to the package the Luna had sent her. Picking up the box, she carefully examined it to see if Luna had sent her anything else. Finding a rock, a puzzled Ginny removed it from the box utterly unsure of how this was supposed to help her be the heir of Slytherin. She guessed that it might have some magical properties, but for all she could tell it looked like any other run of the mill rock. The only thing that made it even slightly different were the greenish spots on its surface. _Guess I will just have to ask Luna for an explanation when I thank her for the snake. _ With the box now confirmed empty, Ginny got up from the table, no longer hungry for the rest of her breakfast, and headed up to her room.

"Master," The snake said, once Ginny had sat down on her bed.

"Yes?" Ginny replied.

"If you would allow, I need to bond to you. Until I do so I am vulnerable and I cannot protect you."

"Bond?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, once bonded our magic will be melded, which will protect me from harm and allow me to awaken your heritage."

"Okay." Ginny replied, understanding the benefit. For a moment she was going to ask what was entailed in bonding, but after a moment she decided not to, figuring that she was probably not going to like the answer. When she felt sudden pain shooting up her right arm as soon as she gave her approval, she knew that she had made the right choice in not asking.

Looking down at the snake, she saw that it had its fangs buried in her arm. Then looking more closely she could see a sickly discoloration begin to migrate up her veins as it pumped its venom into her blood stream. Ginny watched on in morbid fascination as the green and black coloration moved up her arm, clearly tracing out each and every one of her veins. As the venom reached her chest, Ginny wondered if Luna had said what type of snake it was that she got her in the letter; however, Ginny only had time to realize that she had left the letter down on the kitchen table before the venom reached her heart, stopping it, and Ginny knew no more.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

A city away, ChibiUsa watched through a shattered stained glass window the unfolding battle between her Sailor Senshi and the demon in frustration. Like each of the previous battles with this new enemy, the only victory that the Sailor Senshi had achieved so far was to keep the victim from being killed. But with regard to the demon they were barely managing to keep it contained. As she watched the battle unfold, the vital role that her mother had played was made all too clear to her. Grimacing as she saw Uranus take a painful blow as she shielded Neptune, ChibiUsa's thoughts turned to how she had acted the first time she had returned to the past and how shameful her actions had been. She could plainly remember that day when she had learned that the klutzy Usagi, who seemed to be the exact opposite of her mother, was in fact her idolized heroine, Sailor Moon. But instead of seeing Usagi in new light for what she did as Sailor Moon, she instead saw Sailor Moon as being no better than her impression of Usagi. And even though that event now no longer had happened, ChibiUsa still felt ashamed for her reaction, especially with how close the two of them had become this time around.

Part of the shame she felt came from now actually understanding her mother's role in the team. Whereas the others were the foot soldiers and did the initial fighting, only her mother had the power necessary to easily kill the demon, a point that was made only all too clear by Usagi's absence. Turning her gaze away from the battle, ChibiUsa took a quick glance at the school buildings and the grounds hoping to see relief for the others. However, to her dismay she did not see either the military or those other Sailor Senshi. As much as she disliked those three newcomers, especially given that they always tried to kill Mamoru, she was quickly approaching the point where she would be willing to accept the consequences of their arrival if it meant that this demon could be defeated and at least this time if they did show Naru was not be around for them to take hostage, yet again.

So far they had taken Naru hostage three times. There was the time at the park a couple of weeks ago, then again last week when a demon master calling himself Fish Eye attacked an artist, and then the incident that had occurred a few days after the one in the park. One part of ChibiUsa's mind wondered if she was putting Naru in danger by being with her. However, a bigger part of ChibiUsa's mind did not care. That selfish part wanted to be able to curl up in the arms of her onee-chan and to let the older girl protect her. Even now, with an ongoing battle just meters away, ChibiUsa wished that Naru was here. Any ways while she had not really thought about it yet, that third incident had proven that Naru did not need ChibiUsa around to get in trouble, as she had been abducted from off the street. Thankfully, Kenji had been just leaving a bank a block down and had recognized Naru's screams and was able to get call home to ChibiUsa who had then relayed the message to the others.

Giving a sigh, as she concluded that help was still some time off, ChibiUsa turned her head back towards the sanctuary. _ Maybe I should call Urawa-san. _ ChibiUsa thought to herself. _ No Ami needs him and help should be here soon. _ ChibiUsa decided a moment later. Like her mother, she wanted to let Urawa have a peaceful life, not drawing him into their battles except when absolutely necessary. The desire was also shared by Minako and Artemis, but for very different reasons. For those two it was the desire to keep him as a trump card as well as the concern over how the new Sailor Senshi would react to him, a concern that was heightened by how they tended to react to Mamoru's presence.

Feeling a tug on her skirt, ChibiUsa looked down to her side at ChibiChibi. The two of them had been out to buy some new clothes for ChibiChibi when Rei's call had come in and strictly speaking neither of them should have been here. However, even though her lack of powers prevented her from contributing in any manner and that she was also putting ChibiChibi at risk by being here, ChibiUsa still had been unable to stay away.

"Chibi?" ChibiChibi asked as their eyes locked.

Squeezed the younger girl's hand in reassurance that everything would turn out all right, ChibiUsa said, "Don't worry ChibiChibi, the others will arrive soon and then they will be able to dust that creature." Then to herself, she added _ Okaa-san I wish you were here. We need you, we are slowly loosing. _ The thought on loosing, though, was not with regard to the battle in front of her but the war that was being fought against these circus freaks.

ChibiUsa knew that she was not the only one who realized that they were losing. She could see it in the increasingly downcast expressions after each battle. Not even the worst demons that Beryl or Rubeus had thrown at them had managed to affect the others this way, as with those no matter how hard the battle was everyone's eyes always seemed to twinkle with victory afterwards. But with these battles, if you saw their expressions you would have thought that they had been defeated not victorious.

"Chibi dust creature. Chibi!" ChibiChibi emphatically said rousing ChibiUsa from her introspection.

Looking down at her "aunt", ChibiUsa saw a look of utter determination on the young girl's face, a look that reminded her of how everyone had looked when they had arrived in the arctic to face Beryl. _ If only it were that easy to regain our determination. _ ChibiUsa thought.

"Dust, Dust." ChibiChibi repeated before throwing out her right hand and saying "ChibiChibi Crystal Power! Make-up!" And, then to the utter surprise of ChibiUsa energy burst free from ChibiChibi's hand in almost the same way that the henshin of the Sailor Senshi was initiated.

"Nani…" ChibiUsa whispered as she watched the energy exploded into flowing pink ribbons that quickly formed into a Sailor Fuku as she watched on in shock. It was not till some minutes later that her brain began working again and she was able to whisper out, "You're… you're a Sailor Senshi?" _ Not fair, I can't henshin and even okaa-san's little "sister" who is only three can henshin. _

In response Sailor ChibiChibi Moon slightly cocked her head as she stood there looking very cute in her Sailor Fuku. Then after a few more moments, she said, "Chibi?" getting ChibiUsa's attention.

Looking down to regard in detail the extremely pint-sized Sailor Senshi, ChibiUsa saw the look of determination and questioning in the young girl's eyes. Looking into these eyes, she suddenly felt familiar warmth surround her and knew for the first time beyond any doubt that this mystery girl meant them no harm. "ChibiChibi Moon?" ChibiUsa tentatively asked as the name came floating to her mind.

Nodding her head in acknowledgment, ChibiChibi cocked her head again and repeated her question, "Chibi?"

"Hai, I want to be able to help." ChibiUsa replied, her eyes not having left the endless depths of ChibiChibi Moon's.

Smiling, ChibiChibi Moon reached out her hand to ChibiUsa and without thought ChibiUsa reciprocated and took a hold of the offered hand. Taking a hold of the younger girl's hand the material world faded from ChibiUsa's consciousness. Instead, of her surroundings, ChibiUsa found herself floating in nothingness in a pure state while an equally pure ChibiChibi floated in front of her. From the back of her mind, lessons with Mars-sensei informed her that what she was seeing was the mind's representation of her and ChibiChibi's souls. Then without conscious thought, ChibiUsa began to slowly draw in the arm of hers that was still holding onto ChibiChibi's hand. At first ChibiChibi was simply pulled toward ChibiUsa, but as soon as the distance separating the two of them had halved, ChibiChibi's form became a sphere of pure energy that continued into the older girl's body on its own. Feeling warmth radiating from where ChibiChibi's soul had merged with her own, ChibiUsa crossed her arms across her chest, laying her hands on her shoulders while at the same time slightly tucking her head down and pulling her knees up while a momentary smile of bliss crossed her face.

The two of them remain like that for an endless moment with ChibiChibi's soul providing warmth to ChibiUsa's body and ChibiUsa would have been content to have never been disturbed again. However, just as quickly as the calming peace had reverberated through her body that peace was followed by an explosion of energy from ChibiChibi's soul, an explosion that proceeded forth like a wave of energy that flowed forth through the other girl's body as the two souls finished becoming one. Responding to the release of energy, ChibiUsa's moon mark glowed brightly once again while an answering glow came from her chest, where she typically wore her now useless, but still sentimentally important, locket, a glow that quickly burst forth with pink ribbons of energy.

When the energy rush finally subsided and ChibiUsa found her mind properly functioning again, she wondered what had just happened. Feeling that something was a bit off with her body, she looked down and was startled to find that she was wearing a Sailor Fuku. "Nani?!" ChibiUsa exclaimed. Then as she looked more closely at her uniform and noticed that it seemed to be styled in red, white and blue – looking very much like her mother's original fuku, she whispered "Okaa-san."

_ Wait __till__ the others see this. _ ChibiUsa happily thought to herself as she stood back up, quite pleased even if she had no idea how she had just came to be wearing a Sailor Fuku. But even as she thought that the memory of the strange transformation process surfaced, _ ChibiChibi! _ echoed through ChibiUsa's mind as ChibiUsa became concerned over the young girl, having realized that she did not know where the younger girl was.

"ChibiChibi Moon?" ChibiUsa called out, her voice slightly quavering, as she turned around, hoping that ChibiChibi was still beside her.

_ Chibi _ came the reply.

"ChibiChibi?" ChibiUsa repeated still trying to find the younger girl, but this time with a smile on her face. She was still worried that she did not know where the other girl was, but ChibiChibi's response had sufficiently reassured her from freaking out. "ChibiChibi, where are you?"

_ You? _ ChibiChibi replied as she hugged ChibiUsa around the neck.

Confused by ChibiChibi's response, ChibiUsa was even more confused when she distinctly felt the young girl hugging her around the neck. When ChibiChibi repeated the response of "you" with another hug, ChibiUsa began to realize that ChibiChibi was trying to tell her something. "Something must have happened when she touched my hand." ChibiUsa said as she began to puzzle the situation out. Then remembering how she had pulled ChibiChibi's soul into herself, she ventured, "You're inside of me?"

_ Inside, Chibi. _ ChibiChibi replied with what ChibiUsa could sense to be a definite happy mood.

"Okay… this is weird" ChibiUsa said to herself. However, a scream of pain from Jupiter broke her out of her thoughts. Turning her attention to the battle, ChibiUsa knew what she had to do.

Heading over to one of the broken windows, ChibiUsa hopped onto the ledge. Then with the fading afternoon light shining past her, she said, "Hey ugly don't you know it's not polite to beat up on pretty girls, nor is it polite to poke around in the beautiful dreams of others?"

Turning to look at the new voice, each of the Sailors gasped as they saw the newcomer who had her hair done up in a pair of what at first glance could be mistaken for odango shaped buns. "Sailor Moon" they each said in awe while Mamoru whispered "Usako."

Turning to look at her guardians, ChibiUsa smirked at them and said, "Not quite but close enough." Then turning back to the demon, she continued with, "And in the name of the future and present Moon, I, the pretty soldier Sailor Moon, will punish you!"

Not moving from her position on the window, Sailor Moon calmly removed her tiara and flowed her energy into it. As she did so, she thought _ Usagi use to do this all the time, so it can't be that hard. _ before throwing her attack at the demon. While the throw was well done, ChibiUsa forgot one of the basic rules of throwing a Frisbee - follow through. Consequently, as a result of failing to keep her attention fully on the demon, her attacked ended up flying towards Mars.

Seeing Sailor Moon's attack fly her way, Mars gave a shriek and dropped to the ground avoiding the energy disk, but not the large chunk of drywall that the attack dislodged when it impacted above her body. Standing up and brushing the debris off of her body, she yelled back at ChibiUsa, "Look where you are throwing that thing odango-atama."

"Hey I am still getting used to having okaa-san's powers" ChibiUsa replied back as she stepped fully into the light allowing the others, for the first time, to clearly see that she was slightly too short to be Usagi and that her hair was pink instead of silver.

"Chibi-Moon?" Uranus asked "But, why are you dressed up as Sailor Moon."

"Hai, I did not think that you could henshin anymore." Jupiter said.

"I have no ide…" ChibiUsa began to say but was cut off when the demon decided to let the new Sailor Senshi participate in its playtime.

"Minna-san, let's dust the demon first then we can find out what happened to Chibi-Moon. Anyways, Ami will probably need to run a scan on her." Venus said.

With that declaration from Venus, the Sailors, with their spirits reenergized from the return of one of their team members, dove back into the battle. Even though none of them expected ChibiUsa to be as powerful as Sailor Moon, she was still one more and now that she was wearing Usagi's original uniform there was hope that maybe that meant her powers had increased and that gave them extra vigor. However, even with their renewed vigor and ChibiUsa finally figuring out how to correctly throw her tiara, their boost against the demon quickly began to fade and they began to slip back into a holding pattern.

Throwing her tiara for yet another time, ChibiUsa tried to rack her mind for another attack she could use. But every other attack that she could think of used the Ginzuishou to some degree, making them now useless. Plus they all required some kind of scepter or wand, something which ChibiUsa had realized early on that she did not have. Feeling herself suddenly lifted up into the air, she looked up and saw that she was being held by Sailor Erion. Then turning her head to look back at where she had been standing just moments ago, she saw a nice little crater. _ Ooh that would have hurt. _ she thought to herself before turning back to Erion and said, "Arigato."

"No trouble your highness." Erion replied as she placed ChibiUsa back down on the ground and then bounded off to unleash another attack.

_Chibi? _ ChibiChibi asked in ChibiUsa's mind.

"Hai it's not going well." ChibiUsa replied. "I wish okaa-san was here, she would be able to stop this demon. I am just as good as her." ChibiUsa said in downtrodden voice as her thoughts dipped with the thought of her mother.

_ Chibi. _ ChibiChibi said encouragingly and then proceeded to ask, _ Good as her? Chibi? _

"Hai, I wish I had some of her strength."

_ Chibi! _ ChibiChibi suddenly said with extreme forcefulness and then the next moment ChibiUsa felt energy pooling in her soul for a moment before being replaced by a ringing bell.

"Huh?" ChibiUsa wondered out loud before a surge of energy drew her attention upwards. Looking up, she saw a gleaming white Pegasus with a golden horn suddenly appear. Standing transfixed, she watched as the Pegasus trotted through the air to her. Upon reaching ChibiUsa, the Pegasus appeared to regard her in confusion for a few moments, but very quickly the Pegasus made its decision and then with a bow of its head it summoned energy and sent it into ChibiUsa.

Feeling the energy pooling her throughout her body, the words "Moon Crisis Power Make Up" came forward and with them the pooling energy surged and she underwent a new henshin, one that gave her a fuku with extended ribbons and a whiter skirt. Besides the new fuku, ChibiUsa now felt a burning energy waiting to be released. Stepping forward towards the demon, she reached out her right hand and as she closed her hand as if she was grasping onto a scepter a flash of light traveled from her hand to a spot half a meter hence leaving behind a wand.

With a smile on her face and the activation words forming in her mind, ChibiUsa pulled her arm back and unleashed a Spiral Heart Attack. Hearing ChibiUsa's words and feeling the sudden release of energy, everyone paused and turned to see ChibiUsa dust the creature. Stunned as they were by the sudden powerful attack that ChibiUsa had gained, they can be forgiven for not noticing that even as the attack left the scepter that ChibiUsa was blown backwards. If it had not been for Jupiter, who was thankfully standing directly behind the Moon warrior at the time, she would have impacted painfully against a wall. Instead, Jupiter, after instinctively catching the odango cannon ball, was the one who hit the wall hard.

When Jupiter shook the stars out of her vision a few moments later and looked down at ChibiUsa to make sure that the other girl was okay, her eyes widened in shock as she watched ChibiUsa's transformation fade away to reveal the girl's street clothes. But before her hope could be dashed too much from ChibiUsa apparently losing her powers again, ChibiChibi Moon appeared in ChibiUsa's arms. Now utterly confused by what was happening and additionally off balance from the additional weight of ChibiChibi, Jupiter fell to the ground quite ungracefully.

Seeing ChibiChibi Moon reappear in front of her, ChibiUsa forgot all about what had just happened; instead, focusing all of her attention on the little girl. Tightly wrapping her arms around her aunt, ChibiUsa never noticed her and Jupiter falling to the ground. Glad that ChibiChibi was back, but worried the lack of any motion from the other girl, ChibiUsa worriedly spoke, "ChibiChibi-chan?"

Walking up beside his daughter, Mamoru said, "Don't worry ChibiUsa. I am sure that ChibiChibi-chan has just worn herself out." having been reassured by the soft gentle breathing that was coming from the little girl.

"He is right your highness. While I have never heard of a Star Child so young, her reaction is not unexpected. As I am sure that you know, using our powers to their utmost when we are young is quite tiring on our bodies." Erion said as she walked over.

"Hai." ChibiUsa replied nodding her head in slight understanding.

"Now why don't you let me take her for you?" Erion said as she knelt down and picked up the youngest Sailor Senshi that she had ever seen. Lifting the young girl into her arms and then standing back up, Erion stared at the young girl for a few moments while thinking, _ What secrets are you hiding little one? _

"So how did you regain your ability to henshin? I thought Ami-chan said that it was gone for good now." Makoto said after standing up as she along with the others returned to their civilian forms.

"It was not me, it was ChibiChibi?"

"ChibiChibi?" A confused Haruka asked.

"Hai, she had a henshin wand and become Sailor ChibiChibi Moon. Then she took my hand and I became Sailor Moon." ChibiUsa hesitantly replied as she tried to remember exactly what had happened.

"But I didn't see ChibiChibi Moon until she appeared in your arms." Makoto replied.

"Hai, me neither." replied Minako.

Seeing that ChibiUsa appeared to be just as confused as the rest of them and knowing that she had to be a bit overwhelmed by what had just happened, Mamoru said, "We'll just have to ask Ami-san if she has any ideas as to how ChibiUsa was able to henshin again." Then turning to Rei, he asked, "Rei-san could you do a fire reading tonight?"

"Hai, I will."

"I'll also check to see if my mirror can shed any light on ChibiUsa, ChibiChibi, or that Pegasus that appeared." Michiru added.

"Pegasus?" Haruka asked.

"Hai, a Pegasus appeared momentarily and did something to ChibiUsa that caused her to henshin a second time." Michiru replied, causing Haruka's jaw to tighten slightly over something messing with their princess.

"Well I probably should get ChibiUsa and ChibiChibi home." Mamoru said, breaking up their post battle gathering.

"That would probably be for the best." Erion replied before handing over the sleeping ChibiChibi Moon to Mamoru. Though, as the sleeping girl was transferred into Mamoru's arms her transformation reversed leaving just an ordinary three year old girl.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

When Ginny awoke some hours after she had passed out, she was a bit surprised to find that she was still laying haphazardly on her bed, obviously indicating that no one had come in to check on her. _ Probably a good thing. _ she thought to herself, knowing that her mother would have gone ballistic if she had found her daughter paralyzed by snake venom. As Ginny picked herself up from where she had laid sprawled out and sat down properly on the bed, she was amazed by how stiff her limbs felt. _ Must have been some poison. _ Ginny thought as she began to realize that she probably had been knocked out for quite a while.

Once she was seated on the bed, Ginny lifted her right arm, the one that the snake had bit, and looked down at it seeing that the snake was once again curled around her arm looking for the moment as benign as some novelty bracelet. Catching sight of where it had bit into her skin, she was not surprised to see that a mark had been left. "Probably will form into a scar." Ginny unintentionally said out loud.

"Yes, you will always now bear the mark of our bonding. It will protect you from all snakes. Even those who will not listen to your commands will still be unable to bring harm to you for you are our master."

"My voice just now it was parseltongue, but I did not mean…" Ginny began as she realized that her words had been spoken in the tongue of the snakes.

"That is now your native tongue, you can no longer speak human. But fear not for those you wish to talk to will be able to understand." the snake replied.

"But…" Ginny replied feeling loss at her ability to speak anything other than snake, especially as the snake tongue was such a hard harsh language. While Ginny had no illusions that her voice was anything special, she was still sadden by the loss and she wondered if Harry could love someone with such a harsh voice as she now had. However, had Ginny thought more of the words she had just spoken or had asked the snake, she would have realized that she now spoke a much more delicate form of snake; one retained all of the tone, timber, and pitch of her old voice. _ I will just have to accept this as the cost. Being able to take Harry as my own had to have a cost. _ Ginny thought to herself as she tried to push aside the feeling of loss. Then giving some thought to what the snake had said, her mood began to lift as certain possibilities for mischief came to mind

"Now am I correct in assuming that only those I am speaking to can hear what I say and that everyone else would just hear snake?"

"That is correct." the snake replied happy to see that its charge was starting to warm to the idea.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Waking with a massive headache, Ami cracked her eyes open before abruptly shutting them so as to ward off the blinding light. Feeling utterly awful, Ami wondered if she was coming down with something, after all her current headache was nothing like she had ever felt before and then her throat was utterly parched not to mention her extreme light sensitivity. Wanting to just snuggle back into slumber until she was healthy again, Ami tried to return to sleep. However, one Sergeant Major had seen Ami's momentarily signs of life.

"Rise and shine Mizuno-san." Mao said in an overly upbeat voice as she lifted the blanket that had been wrapped around the younger girl off.

In reply Ami, mumbled out something unintelligible as she tried to at least snuggle into her pillow.

"I said on your feet soldier!" Mao barked out, this time her voice giving an obvious command.

Reacting purely on ingrained training from her previous life, Ami found herself jumping to her feet and standing at attention in front of this other soldier. Looking around, Ami was confused as to where she was or even how she had gotten here as her memories of the previous day were quite muddled. She did, however, somewhat recognize the female soldier in front of her.

"Now that's better. I am sure that you are feeling more than a little out of it after yesterday's indulgence. And, I have found the best way to handle any hangovers is with a morning run and since you are already in appropriate attire we can get started.

Only now as Mao mentioned appropriate attire did Ami pay attention to the fact that Mao was dressed in what clearly were exercise clothes and had obviously not yet worked out. She, though, was curious as how her own clothes could be considered suitable, not that she was sure what she was wearing. She did remember something about changing out of her school uniform before leaving the facility, but into what she could not exactly remember. Looking down she was stunned to find that she was dressed in her Sailor fuku.

"But, how?" Ami asked.

"I think you just needed to loosen up some and yesterday's party was just the right ticket. Now let's get going. The sun is starting to rise outside and the day is not getting any younger." Mao said before ushering Ami out the door and into her first true taste of soldier life in her current life.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Shortly before seven-thirty in the morning the doorbell at the Tsukino household rang. _ That must be Ami-chan. _ Ikuko thought as she got up to the answer the door. Opening the door she was surprised by how tired Ami looked and so she worriedly greeted Ami with "Ami-chan, are you feeling ok?"

"Konnichiwa Ikuko-san. It is okay, Sergeant Mao thought that the best antidote for the hangover that I currently have was an intensive workout session." Ami replied, shocking Ikuko with the mention of a hangover; though, that bit of trivia was quickly banished as Ikuko focused on helping Ami to recover.

"Then let me get you something to drink." Ikuko said as she let Ami on in. "I would have thought, though, that you would have been able to recover during your trip over here."

Smiling as she slipped off her shoes, Ami replied, "Hai, normally I would have. But I ran on over. Normally the distance would not have bothered me as I was in my Sailor form, but I have not been able to henshin and hence train that much over the past few months and it was also on top of what I had already done this morning." Standing up and slipping into the slippers, Ami upon seeing how Ikuko stood gaping continued with, "Sergeant Mao has laid out a training program that she wants me to follow. It is far more strenuous than what we had been doing before." _ Not that we did too much until Rubeus began making a mess and you and your husband insisted on Usagi taking those martial arts lessons. _ "But, she believes that it is more appropriate for my capabilities."

Seeing that Ami was pleased with this new workout program, Ikuko couldn't help but feel happy for the young girl. "Well then, I am guessing that you could probably benefit from cleaning up so feel free to make use of the bath and while you are doing so I will lay out some clothing for you."

"Arigato," Ami said very thankful for the opportunity to bath after her morning workout. While she had planned on examining ChibiUsa after what had apparently happened the previous day and then going home to bath and change, bathing first was much better.

"You're more than welcome. It is the least I can do for you." Ikuko replied, knowing that she like every other Tokyoite owed Ami and the others a debt that could never be repaid.

With that said, the two of them entered into the house proper with Ikuko walking Ami to the base of the stairs before planning on going into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for ChibiUsa and ChibiChibi who should be waking up shortly, having been allowed to have a slight lie in this morning. As Ikuko watched Ami begin her accent of the stairs before leaving for the kitchen, something Ami said suddenly stood out. "Ami-chan, did I hear you right in that you can now henshin?" Ikuko asked, careful not to get her hopes up in case she had just misunderstood what Ami had said.

Pausing on the stairs and turning to look down at the older woman, Ami with a very large smile and a quite upbeat voice said, "Hai, I was able to henshin last night and I was able to henshin again this morning."

"Sugoi!" ChibiUsa, who had been in the process of dragging herself to the stairs yelled out as she hear the good news before launching herself at Ami.

Thankfully for Ami and the pink haired girl, Ami was not so tired out that her reflexes were dulled and she was able to spin her body as she was knocked off her feet sufficiently that with one arm she was able to grab a railing and with the other ChibiUsa's pajama top; though, at the same time just barely.

"Tsukino Usagi Serenity! What do you think you are doing fooling around like that on the stairs!" Ikuko yelled with her happiness for Ami know having been completely replaced with the fear of losing her granddaughter.

"Gomen Ikuko-mama, I was just so happy for Ami."

"Hai, I feel the same way. But you have to be more careful." Ikuko said as she tried to calm her racing heart as well as trying to keep how scared she had been hidden from the two girls. "I am going to make your and ChibiChibi's breakfast now, so could you go wake up your aunt?" Ikuko asked before turning and leaving for the kitchen where she get recollect herself.

Turning to face ChibiUsa while sitting down for a moment on the stairs, Ami, said, "ChibiUsa-chan after you wake up ChibiChibi you should apologize to Tsukino-san."

"Why?" ChibiUsa asked, realizing that Ami was referring to something other than roughhousing on the stairs.

"She has already lost Usagi. Think about how she would have felt if you had been hurt here in her own house. And, even though there was nothing she could have done about it, she still would have felt guilty about the fact that you were injured here in her house."

"Hai, Ami-chan." a contrite ChibiUsa replied.

Hearing that Ami smiled to show ChibiUsa that everything would be okay before standing back up. Then reaching down to ruffle ChibiUsa's hair, Ami said, "You also need to be careful of your injuries. They may feel nearly all better, but they are not fully healed and you can easily injure them quite severely again if you are not careful."

"Hai." ChibiUsa said.

"Now why don't you go get ChibiChibi up while I bath and then you can tell me about your ability to henshin into Sailor Moon yesterday?"

"Hai," ChibiUsa said quite energetically as she bounded back up the stairs in front of Ami.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

When Ami came back down the stairs a little while later, feeling much more refreshed after her shower, she was surprised to find her mother sitting at the dining table with ChibiUsa, ChibiChibi, and Ikuko. "Okaa-san?" Ami asked as she entered.

"I thought that since you would be a little bit with showering that I would invite your mother on over." Ikuko said, having made the call to Rikou as soon as she had left Ami at the stairs, knowing that the other woman would be anxious to see her daughter after the other day.

Standing up and walking over to give her daughter a hug, Rikou asked, "How are you doing?" once she released her daughter.

"It still hurts that they would turn on me. But the others yesterday helped me see that I should not be ashamed of who I am and now that I can henshin again I think I can live with it." Ami replied as she tried to keep her voice strong.

"It is okay to cry musume." Rikou said as she pulled Ami back in for another hug. "I know how much you wanted to be a doctor."

"That's not the problem." Ami replied as her voice cracked some. "I have known for a while that that was just a fantasy. Being a doctor was not the best way that I could help Usagi, even if I still liked to believe that I could be one."

That statement surprised Ikuko, as, based on her limited contact with Usagi's blue haired friend, she had no clue that Ami had given up her dream of being a doctor. Even ChibiUsa, who knew Ami quite well, was surprised, especially as the Mercury-sensei that she knew from the former future had become a quite well recognized doctor prior to the rise of Crystal Tokyo or at least that was what her mother had told her after she had returned to the future the first time.

"Ami-chan, I'll talk to your principal." ChibiUsa firmly stated, very much worried by Ami having given up her dream.

Breaking away from her mother, Ami did her best to regain control over her emotions before walking over to where ChibiUsa was standing and looking very much like the princess that she was. Kneeling down so that she was eye level with her liege, Ami said, "It is okay princess. Maybe one day I can be a doctor, after all major militaries have doctors. But for now I must be the soldier that I am. I am Sailor Mercury and if we are to fight off this evil that faces us, then I must be that soldier. Just because I have been born in a world where the Moon Kingdom no longer stands does not give me the luxury of pretending that I am not Sailor Mercury."

Hearing Ami speak, Ikuko and Rikou looked on in awe overcome by the emotion and strength in the young girl's words. Hearing those words both knew that as horrible as the actions of the school administrators were the previous day, they were at the same time just what was needed to unleash Sailor Mercury from where she had been sleeping. Ami and Mercury were now clearly the same persona and as such neither of them were at all surprised when Ami's form shifted during her speech to become that of Sailor Mercury.

After pausing for a moment while she stood back up, Ami continued, "Though, while my time has come to once again truly be Sailor Mercury that time has not come for you or the others. Do not feel guilty about being a part-time princess, enjoy it while it lasts."

"Hai, Mercury-sensei." ChibiUsa replied.

"Chibi!" ChibiChibi Moon emphatically said drawing attention to herself. Then heedless of the stares that she was getting from Ikuko, Rikou, and Mercury as they had yet to learn that she could henshin, she walked over to where Ami was standing. Coming to stop in front of the other girl she looked up and reached her arms up. Recognizing the request to be picked up, Mercury knelt down and picked up the red headed child and was rewarded by a firm hug around her neck once she had done so.

Deciding that her "daughter's" request to be held signaled that it was time to move to eating breakfast, Ikuko said, "Ami-chan why don't you take a seat at the table and I'll get you something to eat."

"Arigato." Ami replied as the mention of food reminded her that she had yet to eat this morning. Sergeant Mao had emphatically insisted on workout first, then breakfast, but after learning from Minako via her communicator of ChibiUsa's ability to henshin she had elected to not waste time eating, having been too excited by this development. Whereas with her own inability to henshin, Ami had intellectually known that it was only a matter of time before she regained her ability, all of the theories that she had constructed with the help of Erion on their powers clearly excluded ChibiUsa from ever regaining her powers at least without Usagi enchanting ChibiUsa's now defunct Moon locket.

Sitting down at an empty place at the table, Ami adjusted ChibiChibi's position so that the young girl was now sitting on her lap. Then, accepting the offered plate from her mother, Ami began to help ChibiChibi with her breakfast while she waited for her own.

Bringing out some miso soup for Ami, Ikuko asked ChibiUsa, "ChibiUsa-chan I thought you said that you were able to henshin yesterday not that ChibiChibi could."

"Actually that is part of the story." ChibiUsa said as she tried to remember what had happened, not very clear on the details herself.

"Oh?" Ami asked as she took a spoonful of her soup. Then having tasted the soup, she said to Ikuko. "This is very good; thank you very much for your hospitality Tsukino-san."

"You're welcome, and you are always welcome to join us for mealtimes." Ikuko replied as she began to scoop out some rice for Ami.

"Yeah, I was watching the battle and wishing I wasn't so useless when ChibiChibi became ChibiChibi Moon."

"ChibiChibi Moon?" Rikou asked, wondering what kind of name was that.

"I guess that name makes sense if she is supposed to be Usagi's little sister." Ami said.

"What do you mean supposed to be?" Rikou asked, not having been party to how the system saw ChibiChibi's relationship to the rest of the Tsukino family and also not ever having been really told the story about ChibiUsa.

"I received some months back a birth certificate that had ChibiChibi as my third child even though I know that I have never given birth to her and the others are sure that she is not from the Moon Kingdom."

"And, she was not in the future that we were from either." Diana said, making her presence in the dining room known for the first time.

"However, like ChibiUsa, who originally masqueraded as Usagi's cousin, we suspect that she is related to Usagi maybe as a future daughter. And, if she can become a Sailor Senshi of the Moon that would lend credence to that theory." Ami said finishing the explanation.

"Haven't you run any tests to see if she is related?" Rikou asked

"Tests?" Ami asked unsure at what her mother was getting at.

Letting a slight smile grace her face, Rikou replied, "You know, with that magical computer of yours." feeling strangely relieved by the fact that her daughter still occasionally missed things.

Blushing at having over looked such a simple answer for so long, Ami mumbled "oh yeah." as she lifted ChibiChibi, who was no longer in Senshi form, onto the adjacent seat. Then, taking out her computer she began to run a detailed scan on the little child. After only a few minutes, though her expression turned first to one of confusion and then exasperation.

Snapping the lid of computer shut, Ami slipped it back into her subspace pocket before looking at the others who were all slightly confused by her actions. "Gomen, minna-san. But it wants a banana split before it will scan ChibiChibi."

"Nani?" both ChibiUsa and Diana exclaimed credulously while the adults looked just as confused.

"Hai. There seems to be some kind of lockout on the system that is preventing me from doing any kind of detailed scan on ChibiChibi. However, according to the error message that I am getting, if I provide it with a banana split it would let me proceed with the scan."

"Umm, Ami dear, but how would you provide a computer with something like that?" Rikou asked.

The expression that Ami gave in return clearly indicated that she did not know either.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

An hour before noon, Ami strolled in through the main entrance and entered her school. Unlike the previous day when she had left the school with her head down, today she returned with head held high. While the closed school gate would have been an obstacle for anyone else, requiring them to wait till a teacher came to let them in, Ami simply hurdled the wall. Walking down the hall, she instantly grabbed the attention of the few individuals who were out in the hall, most of whom who were holding buckets for having broken some rule, dressed as she was in the BDU from yesterday. While she had initially changed into one of Usagi's outfits after her shower, Ami had decided that the BDU was the more appropriate attire for her errand and so had changed back into her clothes from the previous day before leaving the Tsukino house.

Dressed as she was in the BDU, the Ami of today posed an intimating figure. Gone was any trace of the shy introverted class brain that she had once been and in its place was the battle hardened Sailor Mercury. Even though she was in her civilian form, Ami's features had firmed up to those of her Mercury persona and additionally, Mercury's features had also hardened, loosing most of this life's childhood softness that they once had. No longer would someone looking at Sailor Mercury and then Mizuno Ami shake their head over the impossibility of them being the same person; now there was no longer any question that Mizuno Ami was a soldier, an image that was further reinforced by her choice of clothing and the sidearm that she openly wore, something that she was entitled to do only because she was an officer in the Special Response Teams.

Stepping into the school's office, she instantly gathered the attention of everyone in the outer office. Walking up to the counter, she said, "I am here to withdraw my enrollment in this school."

Obviously surprised that this soldier was enrolled in the school, it took the receptionist a few moments to reply, "You are enrolled here?"

"Hai, my name is Mizuno Ami." Ami replied surprised that the no one seemed to recognize her from the previous day. She thought that given yesterday's scene that there was no way anyone would be unable to identify her today.

"Just a moment then." the receptionist gulped out, intimidated by Ami's presence, a sensation that was made worse by remembering how she had treated the girl just the other day. Standing before her was no delinquent, but something else entirely. What it was the receptionist had no idea. But she did realize that her actions the other day had been a big mistake.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

While Ami was formally withdrawing from school to start her new career as a soldier, Luna, in her human form, was watching the countryside pass by in the wee hours of the morning. Aside from the conductor who occasionally came through, she figured that she was probably the only one awake in this portion of the train, though not long ago she had also been asleep. The only reason why she was currently awake was that Hotaru, who was curled up against her side, had been fidgeting from what Luna suspected had been a pending nightmare. That fidgeting had been enough to awake her; though, thankfully, a comforting squeeze was all that Hotaru had needed to quiet back down, leaving Luna to gaze out at the window that she was resting against.

Luna was not quite sure how long they would ride this train, but she hoped that now that they had reached the passenger rail network of Europe that they would be able to stay on it for a long time. Travel on the train was both faster and easier than the backpacking and hitchhiking that they had been doing. Of course if it hadn't been for that package they had received some weeks ago trains would have been out of the question, they would not have had the either the money or the necessary documents for crossing the borders.

Back when they were backpacking through China, not having passports was not so much of a problem since the size of the country meant that there were no border crossings for them to worry about. But now, as they entered into Europe with its multitude of countries, all of which that could easily fit inside of the borders of China with room to spare, having to sneak across the borders would have greatly slowed them down. Also with each border they violated the chance of them being spotted increased, a complication that Luna did not want to have to deal with. An additional boon that Luna did not realize, but one that would have greatly complicated certain border crossings, had been the collapse of the Soviet Union not that many years previous. Being chased by border agents for illegal entry would be one thing, but having to avoid soldiers with shoot to kill orders to prevent their citizens from escaping to the West would have been something completely different.

Watching as the lights of some town flashed by, Luna thought, _W __e are quickly running out of land.__ I hope we reach our destination soon. __ I would have to believe that if what Hotaru was looking for was in the Americas that we would have headed East initially and not West, but magic tends to have a mind of its own and I think Hotaru needed that time in the wilderness of China to came to terms with who she is. I just hope that we don't have to cross the Atlantic. _

However, knowing that she would not be able to divine the answer to that question and would have to just wait till Hotaru announced that they were there, Luna adjusted her position, moving her pillow so as to get comfortable again. Unfortunately, her innate feline ability to be comfortable just about anywhere did not really translate to her human form and furthermore she was still getting used to sleeping in her human form, which she found, at least currently, to result in less restful sleep. Consequently, most nights she would simply just sleep in her feline form. That, however, was currently not an option given that they were on a train and so she was stuck trying to find a comfortable position in the train seat wishing a little bit that they had paid extra for a sleeper car ticket. _ At least Hotaru appears to be sleeping comfortably and that is all that matters. _ Luna thought to herself as she closed her eyes and tried to get a little more shuteye before this train ride ended in a few hours.

-End Chapter

() As usual sorry for the delay, but I hope that a 20K chapter that saw the return of Sailor Mercury and Sailor Moon (even if it is ChibiUsa) makes up somewhat for the delay. And thanks again it 00idiot for being my editor.

() Ami's words to Umino in the library are a homage to "Babylon 5: In the Beginning" and refer to Londo's statement of how the humans fought the Minbari even though they were clearly overpowered by the alien race.

() Bonus points to anyone who recognizes the series that supplied the method by which ChibiUsa was able to henshin.

() And no Ginny is not about to become a Sailor Senshi or anything like that, she has a more subtle role to play.

() In case anyone is wondering about the confrontation between Minako and Mamoru in the last chapter, what you saw was more of a confrontation between their past personas than any true animosity between the Senshi and Mamoru, which is why they have no issue working together in this chapter.


	10. Chapter 9: Beginnings

The Fragility of Time BOOK Three: "Stardust Memories"  
**Chapter 9 - Beginnings**  
Author: etj4Eagle  
Posted 6/22/08  
Edited 6/22/08

Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story, all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only so freely and inform me of where you post it.

* * *

One evening, a little over two weeks following her birthday, found ChibiUsa sitting at the desk in her attic bedroom writing in her diary, something that she had been religiously doing since her birthday. The diary itself had been a gift from Naru and initially ChibiUsa had not been too keen on the gift, as she had never really been good about keeping a diary the prior times that she had tried to keep one. However, undeterred by ChibiUsa's lackluster reaction to the present, Naru had taken the young girl aside afterwards to explain why she had gotten her a diary and to tell the young girl that she was to write in it every day and now two weeks later ChibiUsa was very glad that her "big sister" had forced her to begin to keep a diary.

Her writings this evening, like most of her writings for the past week, focused on the differences in her relationship with Usagi this time around and how she had missed so many opportunities to have that kind of relationship before and as much as part of her wanted to blame Usagi for those missed opportunities, she knew that that was not the case. This Usagi was younger and at least initially even less mature than the one she had known before. What was different, she had realized after a couple of days of writing down her thoughts, was that this time around she did not hide her worries from Usagi. She now knew that she had been foolish before and that all she had needed to do to get the warmth that she had so longed for was to let Usagi see the hurt and insecurities that she had carried.

In addition, to musing on her relationship with her mother, ChibiUsa would also capture her worries about her missing sister and in the morning she would try to capture the strange dreams that she tended to have of late at night. She did not mind those dreams, for they along with Naru were helping her deal with her loss. Still, she was curious as to why she was dreaming about a winged unicorn. Somehow she knew that the dream was more than just a dream, but at the same time she felt that she could trust this being and so she had not told anybody, not even Naru about her dreams.

"You almost ready for bed?" Diana asked as she entered the bedroom.

"Hai, I will be done shortly," ChibiUsa said as she looked up for a moment from her writings. _I wonder why Diana always changes in pajamas before going to sleep. She still sleeps in her kitten form ,_ she thought to herself as she noticed that Diana had changed in her cheese and mice pajamas, something that her guardian had never done back at the palace.

However, as she was unable to figure out the peculiarities of her friend and guardian, ChibiUsa mentally shrugged off the question and returned to her writings. Tomorrow was another school day and she had a test in the morning, so she would need to wrap up her writings soon and join her "aunt" ChibiChibi in bed. Thinking about going to sleep, ChibiUsa tried to remember if ChibiChibi had ever slept in the futon that they had originally been set up for her, but she drew a blank not that she minded. Actually, ChibiUsa quite enjoyed having the little redhead curled up against her side, almost as much as she enjoyed being curled up in her own mother's arms. Focusing on that happy thought for a moment, ChibiUsa suddenly realized that the mother that she was thinking of was the Usagi of this time and not her mother of the future. Puzzled by that ChibiUsa tried to focus on memories of before when her mother was the queen and not a fourteen, now fifteen, year old girl. However, each time she called up a memory, it would quickly dissolve into the Usagi of this time. Confused and saddened, ChibiUsa wondered why that was the case.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Half a planet away and some hours later, Luna and Hotaru were settling themselves down for lunch. Currently, the two of them were in a park located village not far from London and like most of the prior days they were currently carrying take out boxes filled with fish and chips, a popular English pub food that Luna had instantly fallen in love with. For her, the scent of the lightly battered fresh fish never failed to cause her stomach to rumble in anticipation and for once she was finding it hard to restrain herself from eating as Usagi often did; only the need to set an example for Hotaru kept her eating at a dignified pace. Opening one of the packets of malted vinegar and sprinkling its contents onto her fish, Luna made a mental note to herself to make sure that she introduced Makoto to this meal. If there was anyone in Tokyo who stood a chance of authentically replicating this delicacy, it was the Senshi of Jupiter and she was sure that Usagi and the others would appreciate. They probably would not appreciate it to the same degree as she did, after all they weren't feline shape shifters. However, the deep fat frying had to account for something, especially given some of the foods that Usagi wolfed down and Hotaru seemed to enjoy it quite bit. Or at least Luna hoped that Hotaru enjoyed it, as the young girl had not once complained about their diet being seemingly centered around fish and chips since their arrival in England.

Taking a bite of her fish, Luna let herself savor the tender flavor of the fish that was accented against the crisp batter. Swallowing, she looked over at Hotaru who was enjoying her own fish with the tartar sauce. "How are you holding up?" Luna asked, once Hotaru finished eating her current bite of fish.

Looking up at Luna, Hotaru replied, "Okie."

Sensing a slight undercurrent of something else in Hotaru's words, an undercurrent that she had been sensing from the younger girl for the past couple of days, Luna decided that she was going to have to be a bit more direct with the young girl. "Hotaru-chan, I know that something is bothering you. Please tell me what it is."

When Hotaru failed to reply and just stared at her food, Luna reached out and gently lifted the other girl's chin. "You do not need to be embarrassed. It doesn't matter if what is bothering you is trivial, I still want to help and don't worry your mother had more than a few trivial problems of her own."

"She did?" Hotaru asked

"That she did. I keep forgetting that you have not seen many of Usagi's faults. Not that there is anything wrong," the last bit being hurriedly added before Hotaru had a chance to become defensive about someone bad talking her mother. "Let's just say that your mother matured a lot since the arrival of ChibiUsa and that during those initial first couple of months that I knew her that she almost seemed to purposely avoid responsibility and to focus on trivial matters. She has grown up a lot since then, but you see there is nothing you can say that would make me think less of you as I know that like her that you will grow into a woman that we are all are very proud of."

Blushing at the praise that Luna had just placed on her at the end, Hotaru said, "It is not that. It is just that I am worried. We are almost at the end of our journey, but I am not sure what to do once we are there."

"Hotaru-chan, I understand your fears and, believe me, I have experienced similar concerns myself. You see, when I awoke your mother and the others to their destiny, I only had the vaguest idea of what I was doing. My memories of the Moon Kingdom are still very much scattered and they were practically non-existent until ChibiUsa arrived revealing Usagi to be the princess. What you need to do is to trust in yourself and to trust in the guidance of the past Moon Queens, the line of Serenity and Saturn itself will not guide you wrong, you just need the courage to listen to them as they whisper guidance to you."

"Hai," a still partially unconvinced Hotaru replied before eating some more of her chips. She had hoped that Luna would have known what they should do and was disappointed that her mentor was not giving her any more guidance, but at the same time she was relieved that Luna approved of her following her instinct.

"Now why don't I tell you some stories about how Usagi was when I first met her?" Luna suggested as she attempted to move their lunch conversation onto a happier topic and to also rectify Hotaru's gap in knowledge of her adopted mother.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

If there was one constant in Harry Potter's nearly sixteen years of life it was chores that bordered on slavery. Originally there had been no break from those chores with Harry having to essentially single handily maintain number 4 Pivot Drive 365 days a year. However, ever since his 11th Birthday he had gained close to ten months of freedom with his schooling, as he attended a boarding school up in the Scottish Highlands. He stayed at school during the various holidays having no desire to come home to his abusive aunt and uncle and if he had the option he would also stay there during the summer. Even double potions would be more tolerable than spending the summer at the Dursleys. Unfortunately, that was not an option and so "home" he came for the summer months from mid-June through September 1st and each year when he arrived home he was greeted by a list items that needed to be fixed or taken care of and this summer was no different.

Though, this time around things were not quite as bad as in previous years; apparently, the talk that the adults that he was friends with from the wizarding world had given to his aunt and uncle had done some good for, at least initially, the list of chores he had been given had been at least somewhat reasonable. For the first two weeks, he only had insane amounts of cleaning to do, no backbreaking or dangerous work, but now with July well underway, the fear of the threats that the Dursleys had been left with had worn off and Harry found himself tasked with ripping out perfectly good shrubbery. And as for why he was removing the shrubs, well the neighbors, two doors down, who had just moved in, had removed their own shrubs and had replaced them with a flower garden, a garden that was tended to daily by the lady of the house and Harry's aunt, Petunia, not wanting to be out classed had decreed that they too would have a flower garden. Though, as Harry worked at removing the shrubs, he highly doubted that his aunt would put anywhere near the effort into maintaining the garden as the new neighbor did, that lady was in her garden a good fraction of each day.

Harry actually was quite pleased that his relatives had finally gotten around to assigning him hard labor as chores, as after the fiasco at the end of the prior school term he felt that he deserved the punishment. It was his fault after all that his godfather was dead. If he had only listened to his good friend, Hermione, instead of running off, he would have known that the vision had been a trap. Harry so felt that he needed the punishment that he had no qualms over the poor excuse for tools and protective gloves that his uncle had given him, just seeing the damage he was doing to his hands and arms as he wrestled with one of the shrubs as only fitting. After all, his friends who had accompanied him had all gotten hurt to one degree or another and he was just lucky that there had only been one death. Consequently, Harry had no problem with his uncle's insane decision that he was not to be allowed back into the house until he had finished and as such Harry had been working without break since early that morning. However, unbeknownst to Harry, he was about to get some unexpected help as two girls continued to make their way towards him.

Those two girls were of course Hotaru and Luna, who had finished up their lunch a few hours earlier, and were now continuing their journey. Though, this time instead of heading on out of town, Hotaru was leading the two of them on a meandering path through the streets of Surrey, homing in on the now very strong presence that was calling to her. Following behind Hotaru, Luna silently crossed her fingers in the hope that Hotaru's more meandering path meant that they were close to finding what they were searching for.

Walking along the streets, the two of them did make for a bit of an odd sight, loaded down with their packs as they were, especially given that they were now hiking through the streets of suburbia. At least when they were traveling along the primary routes from town to town, most would simply pass them off as being a couple of kids on a cross country journey, even if Hotaru looked fairly young for such an adventurous trip. Though, most probably wouldn't look long enough to even notice Hotaru's youth. However, now that they were in the heart of Surrey's residential area, they were obviously not simply passing through and a result a fair number of people stared at them from their windows as they passed by.

"Luna-chan, could you hand me my water bottle?" Hotaru asked as she paused after turning onto a new street, feeling a bit thirsty.

"Just a moment," Luna replied before walking up to Hotaru's pack and removing the water bottle from the side pocket. While the store clerk had showed the two of them how to remove ones own water bottle from the side pockets, neither Luna nor Hotaru had been able to replicate sales girl dexterity. Luna had even wondered at times if that store clerk might have been a youma in disguise as she was sure reaching her own water bottle would have required at least one more joint in her arm.

"Arigato," Hotaru replied as she accepted the bottle. Opening the top she took a few sips before resuming walking.

Hotaru was quite glad that they had been able to refill their water bottles during lunch, as the day was already becoming quite hot and unlike before when they were hiking in forests, they had no shade to help keep them cool. Since lunch, she had already put a very sizable dent into her current water bottle and with the way the day was going, Hotaru expected that she would likely fully consume her second water bottle before they stopped for dinner. Sipping some more from her bottle, Hotaru arched her back slightly to stretch it while also rolling her shoulders; though, as she did so something caught her attention, setting on edge. Unsure of what it was that had suddenly set her on edge, Hotaru slowly screwed the lid back on the bottle, as she began scanning the street in front of them. Finding nothing at first, Hotaru began to cautiously move down the street, still searching for what had caught her attention.

"Hotaru-chan, what is it?" Luna asked, as she noticed her charge's behavior.

"I'm not sure, but…" Hotaru replied before trailing off as her eyes fell onto a teenage boy about the same age as her mother up ahead. Looking at the boy, she realized that he was what had caught her attention and somehow she also knew that he was in trouble that he needed her help. Not questioning how she know that, Hotaru began jogging down the sidewalk and then across to the street to where the boy was working in front of his house.

Reaching the boy, she removed the top from her water bottle and held it out to him while saying, "Here, have some of my water. You shouldn't let yourself get dehydrated," somehow instinctively knowing that he was badly dehydrated. Dehydration that was one lesson that Hotaru had learned the hard way a fair number of times before she relented and began to drink iodine flavored water and it was a mistake that she wanted to save this boy from.

Caught unawares by Hotaru's arrival, Harry's heart raced as Hotaru's voice cut through his focus. Looking up while mentally chastising himself for not paying attention, he was surprised to see a young Asian girl holding out a bottle of water to him. Harry's first inclination was to refuse the offered water, as he did not feel that he deserved it, plus some way or another it would end up causing problems with his aunt and uncle. However, Hotaru had apparently unconsciously picked up on the manners used by ChibiUsa and Usagi in making offers that could not be refused and so, instead, Harry found himself accepting the water bottle while saying, "Thank you."

Smiling at Harry as he took the water bottle and began to eagerly drink the water, Hotaru undid her hip strap before letting her pack slip off her right shoulder and on down to the ground in one fluid motion upon which she then laid it down flat.

"Guess I was more thirsty than I thought," Harry, a few minutes later, sheepishly said as he found himself holding an empty water bottle. Looking over at the girl, he felt guilty in drinking all of her water, especially with how hot it was today and given the fact that it looked like she and her companion were likely to be on the road for a while once they continued on their way.

"That's okay. I have another one." Hotaru replied before pointing out the second water bottle that was still strapped to her pack. Then turning back to Harry, she accepted the empty water bottle. However, as their hands touched, she sensed a sudden familiarity. Turning to Luna, she quickly and excitedly spoke, "He's the one, he's the one that we have been searching for," in rapid Japanese.

"Are you sure?" Luna replied.

"Hai, he feels the same way it did when that Pegasus came to me," Hotaru answered. Then more sedately, Hotaru asked, "What should I do know?" as her lunch time worries began to return.

Smiling at the initial perk up in Hotaru's mood, Luna suggested, "Why don't you see what he is doing, maybe you can help him. I am sure that if you spend some time with him, what you need to do will come to you and if not today then we will just have to come up with an excuse to visit with him tomorrow.

"Hai," Hotaru replied, before turning back to Harry and asking, "What are you working on?"

"My aunt wants to plant a flower garden here so I need to remove these shrubs," Harry explained.

"Can I help?" Hotaru asked.

"I'm not sure. The roots are very hard to cut through and I don't want you to injure yourself, especially as my tools are not the best." Harry of course was being extremely generous in referring to his tools, as most would refer to them as utter garbage. The blades were dull, chipped, and rusty, the gloves were barely in one piece, and the shovel that he had been using was missing half of its shaft.

Seeing the state of Harry's tools, Hotaru turned to Luna and said, "He's pulling out these shrubs, but I don't think his tools are any good."

Walking on over to get a good look, Luna bit back a curse as she saw what the boy was working with. Then taking a moment to take in a quick look at the boy, things began to add up in her head. She was now very glad that they had come across this boy, even if Hotaru's feeling that he was the one proved to be falsely placed, as she highly suspected that this boy's home life made Hotaru's previous one look to be that of a wonderful happy family. However, now was not the time to focus on that, right now this boy had a chore to do and even if the chore was not something to be assigned to a teenager, she was going to make sure that he was able to complete it. Sliding off her pack, as they were going to be here for a while, Luna knelt down, lifted her left pant leg, and began unfastening the sheath knife that she carried there.

Technically, given that they were now in civilization, the knife probably should have been placed in her pack so as to not be considered a concealed weapon. However, Luna still liked having a weapon at easy reach in case something happened. In most cases, Hotaru, as Sailor Saturn, would be able to handle any trouble that they might run into, but there was always the potential. Consequently, the knife that had been originally purchased and placed on her leg for cutting through jungle undergrowth was now a defensive weapon and Luna did not have too much fear in having to use it for defense. In addition to having observed a fair amount of Sailor Senshi training from when her princess had wanted to visit the Senshi, Luna had also received her own personal defense training, training that had focused in particular on using daggers as weapons and as such she was sure that the instincts for the proper use of the weapon were there should she need them. Her training had been quite extensive, for as the princess's diplomatic advisor, she was also one of Serenity's final bodyguards.

With the knife detached, Luna stood back up and taking a hold of the blade while holding the hilt out to Hotaru, she said, "Here take my knife. If you focus your powers into it, you should find that it will cut quite well."

"Arigato," Hotaru replied with a nod of her head as got a firm grip of the knife before continuing with, "but how?"

"Don't worry, you have done it before."

"I have?"

"Hai, back when we training in that village. Those last few sparing matches we had before I let you begin to use the Silence Glaive. It was the reason why you were cutting through my own staves with such ease and why I stopped that workout."

"Oh," Hotaru replied feeling a bit embarrassed to learn that she had been cheating in those matches.

Noticing, Hotaru's reaction, Luna spoke to reassure the girl, "Actually, I was quite impressed that you were able to do such a difficult skill so early. Except for your mother and Rei, the other girls haven't developed that skill yet. You are more advanced than they are. The only reason why I didn't draw attention to it then was that I wanted you to focus on other things then and, additionally, you have the Silence Glaive. However, I don't think that the Silence Glaive would be quite appropriate here. While I am sure it would get the job done, the two of you might have a large hole to replace."

"Hai," Hotaru happily replied, as she giggled at the thought of using her Silence Glaive attacks on the shrubs. "You said momma could do this as well?"

"That's right. While I am not sure how refined her skills are, as I am afraid to say that I haven't done a good job in giving her regular magic training, I believe that she has been able to channel her power into makeshift Frisbees so as to use them as weapons. I don't know if you know this, but her first attack was turning her tiara into an energy disk and throwing it at the enemy. However, now that her fuku doesn't include a tiara she has had to make do with what she finds lying around."

"Like with the serving tray," Hotaru whispered out as she remembered that fateful night at the Crown Fruit Parlor, a night that while having been quite scary and having marked the start of the fall of her mother also was a night that she treasured very much for how Usagi had taken care of her.

Watching the two girls talk, Harry felt his hope that the little girl would continue on her way slowly fade and then completely vanish as the older one for some unknown reason handed the younger one a large and very sharp looking knife. While he couldn't understand what they were saying, he assumed that the older one was telling the younger one to be careful with the knife; though, Harry had a hard time understanding why she even gave the other one the knife in the first place. With a sinking sensation, Harry realized that it was going to be quite hard to get rid of these two girls (the longer that they stayed, the more likely that he was to get into trouble) and on top of that now he was going to have to watch the young one very carefully so as to make sure that she did not hurt herself.

"Luna says I can use her knife and that it should work much better than yours," Hotaru said in English as she turned back to Harry.

"Luna?" Harry replied, immediately thinking of his unique blond haired friend, a friend who had apparently taken to sending him rocks this summer.

"Yep, I know it is unique…" Hotaru started before Harry cut her off.

"No, it's not that. It is just that I have a friend whose name is also Luna and I was just surprised."

"Oh," Hotaru sheepishly replied. Then realizing that she had not introduced herself or Luna to the boy, she quickly bowed and said, "I am very sorry for not introducing ourselves. My name is Hotaru Tomoe and this is my friend Luna Tsukino."

Confused by why the younger girl had just bowed to him, Harry gave the young girl a reassuring smile to let her know that he did not take offense by her failure to introduce herself. "It's good to meet you Hotaru, my name is Harry Potter."

"Potter-san," Hotaru echoed back.

"Harry is just fine," Harry corrected.

"Harry-san then it is," Hotaru replied with a smile before turning her attention to the shrubs and saying, "What do you want me to cut?"

Not sure of what to make of the san that Hotaru had added to both his last and first name, Harry pushed those thoughts out of his mind and turned his attention to the shrubs. Even though there was no way that he was going to complete this chore before the end of the day, he still wanted to get as much done as he could so as to minimize the punishment that he was bound to receive, and so Harry turned his full attention to the work at hand.

Fifteen minutes later as Harry was setting the bush that they had just freed off to one side, Harry said "Wow I did not realize that my tools were that bad," amazed by how easily Hotaru had been able to cut through the roots.

Hotaru simply smiled in return. However, as Harry let go of the bush, her features frowned as she noticed what looked to be blood on the other boy's hand. "Harry-san, happened to you hand?"

"Oh this?" Harry replied he held up his hand, palm out. "I cut it earlier this morning when I was working."

Quickly closing the gap between the two of them, Hotaru reached out and grabbed a hold of Harry's hand. Concentrating on her healing powers, her hands glowed violet as the multiple wounds on Harry's hand quickly closed up.

Startled by Hotaru suddenly coming at him, Harry did not react as Hotaru took his hand nor as he hands began to glow. However, upon feeling the healing energies some things started to make sense. Hotaru was obviously a witch, a very powerful one if her wandless and wordless healing spell was any indication. He wondered if she could teach it to him, it would be quite useful to have when he went after Voldemort and if she was a witch, then that likely meant that the knife that she was using was likely enchanted for extra cutting power and likely also enchanted to not hurt the user. That of course would explain why her friend, Luna, had let her use it. Also now looking at those packs, Harry had to wonder if they also had a feather-light charm on them.

"You're a witch," Harry said stating his deductions.

"Hai, Gomen nasai," Hotaru replied; though, this time the shame she felt in being found out kept her words from being translated into English.

Seeing how downtrodden the girl looked, Harry felt like slapping himself. She obviously didn't recognize him as being the Boy Who Lived, a nice turn of events, and therefore she obviously thought that he was a muggle. Reaching out and grabbing a hold of Hotaru's arm as the young girl was turning to leave, Harry stopped her motion. Then as Hotaru looked up at him, her face showing both fear and a slight twinge of hope, he said, "Don't worry. I am a wizard."

"You are?" Hotaru tentatively asked.

"Yep," Harry replied before letting go of Hotaru's arm and then reaching into his back pocket and removing his wand. Even though he couldn't actually use it to cast any magic due the laws against underage magic, he always kept it on him as it was his only defense should Death Eaters discover where he lived. Showing the wand out to Hotaru, he said, "See this is my wand."

Reaching out, Hotaru tentatively touched the wooden instrument and as she did so, she could feel her power react to it. Now believing him, Hotaru's fear vanished to be replaced with curiosity and excitement. Finding another magic user was something that she had never expected to happen and as such she wanted to know all that she could. "Could you show me some spells?"

Seeing the obvious excitement in the young girl's eyes, Harry was very much tempted to give into her request and he probably would have if he had not already a couple of summers earlier received his one and only warning about using magic outside of school. "I'm sorry, but I am not allowed to do magic outside of school. They expel those students who do."

Hearing that Hotaru's face immediately went white. Seeing Hotaru's reaction, Harry tried to reassure her by saying, "It's okay. You didn't know and I am not upset that you asked."

"No, that is not it. I used my powers just now to heal you as well as to cut that plant. I am very, very sorry," Hotaru replied with many low bows.

Grabbing a hold of the girl's arms, Harry said, "It is okay. If they had detected it, the ministry would already have sent an owl. Most likely they are writing your use of magic off as accidental magic as you are underage and I am sure that the use of enchanted objects is okay." Harry said first referring to her healing magic and then her use of the knife. He now wished that he had paid closer attention to Hermione's explanation of how the Trace worked. All he could remember right now was that the charm that they had received upon starting school wore off when they turned 17 and that it simply detected magic, not its source. Of course that meant that they should have detected Hotaru's healing spell. "Let's just keep to the muggle method for healing injuries; though, I think we can continue to use your knife." Harry said

"Okay," Hotaru replied.

"Hotaru-chan, what was that about?" Luna asked once she saw that the interchange between her charge and the boy had resolved itself.

"Harry is a wizard," Hotaru happily beamed.

"A wizard?" a surprised Luna asked. _Though, I guess I should not be too surprised. After all there would have to be something special about him if finding him was the key to waking Usagi up._

"Hai, though, he is not allowed to do magic outside of school." Hotaru replied, with a little pout, which caused Luna to chuckle. For how mature Hotaru tended to act, she was still a little kid and every now and then she would let those childish moments shine through. Now if ChibiUsa was here, Luna could only imagine the effort that would be required to convince her that he really could not do magic outside of school, which spoke the question of what kind of school do he go to that he learned magic at.

"Hotaru, if you would like, I can tell you about the school I go to while we work on the next bush. It is where I learn my magic," Harry offered regaining Hotaru's attention.

"Hai!" Hotaru replied as she scrambled over to the next spot.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

That evening after darkness had fallen, Luna, after suggesting to Hotaru that she write a letter home to her sister, as a cat, slipped out into the night. Quickly making her way through the streets, she retraced the route that she and Hotaru had taken only a few hours earlier, returning to number 4 Pivot Drive. She silently prayed that what she suspected to be the case was not actually the case, but after the scene in the early evening when Harry's uncle had returned home she was knew that there was as much chance of that happening as there was for this Sailor Galaxia to not invade the Earth. She had, though, been proud of the way that Hotaru had acted when she had stood up to Harry's uncle.

The two of them had just finished removing the last of the shrubs when a large car had pulled into the driveway. Looking up from where she had been sitting in the shade of a tree and writing letters to Ikuko-san, Artemis, and Ami-chan, Luna had cautiously watched as a very heavy set man had made his way over to where Harry and Hotaru were shaking the dirt of their clothes. By the time he had gotten half way over to where the two kids where, Luna knew that there was going to be trouble, as her eyes easily picked up on the flushing of blood to his face. Know alert, she slowly bundled up the sheets of paper that she was working with before standing and slowly making her way on over.

She was only a few paces away from the two when the older man reached them and began yelling at Harry while occasionally gesturing at Hotaru. Hearing the words that she could not fully understand, Luna once again wished that she had taken time to learn English on her own, as the tone and the few words that she was making out made it clear to her that something was happening. Though, later after she had talked to Hotaru and learned exactly what Harry's uncle had said, Luna realized that not fully understanding might have been a good thing, as it had kept her from reacting to the insults that he had thrown at Hotaru. Apparently, Harry's uncle was not very fond of foreigners and especially those who looked noticeably different and unlike some of the girls such as Usagi and Minako, Hotaru was very clearly Japanese, something that Luna attributed to there being no Sailor Saturn during the Silver Millennium and hence no reincarnation that looked like her past self.

However, at the time, Luna had known none of this and so she had just calmly approached ready to be the calm voice to Hotaru if she lost her cool or to intervene if this man meant any harm to her charge. Given Hotaru's temperament she highly doubted the former; though, that incident with the minor warlord in one of China's providences had made it clear that as timid as Hotaru was, her inner Senshi did have a fire. Similarly, Luna did not really expect this man to do anything to Hotaru and even if he did, Hotaru was still keeping her Senshi magic active while she was awake so there was nothing really to fear. Even still, this man rubbed her instincts wrong and she was not going to take any chances. Luna was just a few steps away from the group, when Hotaru suddenly stepped in between Harry and the man, causing Luna's heart to race.

"I do not like you," Hotaru vehemently stated with a tone that made translation of the English words for Luna unnecessary and with those words her clothes shifted into her Sailor Fuku.

Hearing those words, Luna's heart rate increased even further, as her unformalized fears of Hotaru loosing herself to Sailor Saturn appeared to be coming true. But, then just as sharply, as she had spoken her words, Hotaru spun on her feet and walked over to her pack, clearly dismissing the man as beneath her notice.

Luna had silently followed Hotaru's example and the two of them had then promptly left number 4 Pivot Drive. Over the next few hours the two of them had talked about the afternoon and the confrontation of with the man, who Luna then learned to be Harry's uncle. Hotaru was, of course, quite concerned about Harry as she really did not like his uncle and was also feeling guilty that she had apparently gotten him into trouble by being seen with him. Those were the reasons, along with her own concern, that Luna was now returning to check on Harry. Hotaru had of course wanted to come, wanting to apologize to Harry for getting him into trouble. Luna, however, had ruled that out. For one it was nearly 11 now (though, Luna knew that Hotaru was still going to be up when she got back) and two if there was a problem, she did not want Hotaru to react without thought. Reacting without thought was something that none of the girls could afford and it was even more so for Hotaru because of the scale that her powers tended to work on and because Luna had been training her to keep that power ready at her finger tips. At least with the others, they would first need to call upon their powers.

Finally arriving at Pivot Drive, Luna was happy to finally see her destination. They weren't staying incredibly far away from where Harry lived, but even still this on top of all of the rest of the hiking they had been doing these past few days was tiring, even if she had gotten to rest for a few hours this afternoon. She could of course have walked over here in human form, which would have been less tiring due to the longer legs that form had, but the hour was late enough that her late teen body would have attracted unwanted attention.

Walking down the street, she quickly arrived at number 4 and crossed into the yard. Walking halfway across the front lawn, she paused and sat down on her hunches while looking up at the house in front of her. From the front, the house looked to be in good order, but her time with Usagi had taught her that appearances and being good caregivers where not the same thing. The Tomoe mansion after all had a similar well kept appearance, along with servants, while Usagi had about nothing that would seem to make her a great mother other than a heart that could not bear to see her daughter suffer. Pulling her thoughts away from the past, Luna refocused them on her mission. Looking at the house again, she could see that the front of the house was going to be no help for her – all of the windows were closed and with binds drawn, just as they would be for any proper house.

However, that did not mean that every window was going to be like that. This was the front of the house, the show side, but Luna highly suspected that the back of the house was a different story and so standing back up on her four legs, she headed around back. The backyard appeared to be much like the front with a heavily treated lawn and a couple pieces of patio furniture on the patio. It also looked like the show piece that it was supposed to be with no sign that two boys lived in the house. Turning her attention back to the house, Luna began looking for a way in and as she suspected the binds on the downstairs windows this time were not drawn.

Not seeing any open windows on the first floor, Luna turned her attention momentarily to the second floor. Her next step would be to, in her human form, attempt to open the various first floor windows and doors in the hope of finding one unlocked, but before she did that she was curious if there was any indication of which room belonged to Harry. Unfortunately, it was all too easy to figure out which room was his – two of the windows were barred; though, the bars on one were partially pulled off. _What the hell!_ Luna mentally cursed as she saw those bars. There was no way that there could be a reasonable explanation for those bars and with the long drop to the hard patio below that window, Luna could only wonder at what Harry's relatives were doing to him that they feared him trying to escape through the window with a fall that would at the very least result in broken limbs.

Shifting into her human form, Luna continued to stare at those two windows, clenching and unclenching her right first as she calmed her anger. "Harry don't you worry, this will be the last night that you will be spending here," Luna softly said aloud, as she made the only decision that she could. They would not exactly be upgrading Harry's living conditions into anything too great, with the two of them living on the road, but anything would be better than the abuse that Luna was now positive that he was receiving.

Taking one last look up at where Harry was sleeping, Luna softly said, "I have to go know, but I will be back shortly with Hotaru and then you will be able to come live with us," before shifting back into her feline form and dashing off into the night.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

As Luna was having her fears confirmed, half a planet away, it was late morning and Ami was home having just finished showering following her return jog from her morning workout, which was part of her new daily routine. At one time that daily routine centered around school and cram school with her getting up early in the morning to get in some studying before classes began and then working late into the night. However, that was before she met Usagi and her life was turned inside out. Being a friend of Usagi had never really been an option for Ami, as the blonde had insisted on having fun with Ami and so her daily routine had been adjusted to include time for hanging out with Usagi, something that Ami quickly found that first day that she quite enjoyed. Unfortunately, her daily routine was again upset just days later when she awoke to her power, as Sailor Mercury, and crushing the frequent demon was added to her routine and her hang out time with Usagi further increased and then for many months the her routine remained unchanging, but that was before the Mugen incident. In the aftermath of that battle, she had silently dropped out of her cram school with only her mother and Ryo knowing that she was devoting the time that she had normally spent preparing to get into a good high school to working at the research facility and now she was no longer a junior high school student either.

Ami, however, was a girl of routines and she had quickly filled the open space that dropping out of school left with her with work, training under Rei, and physical training. She still awoke at the same early hour each morning, but instead of heading over to the school, she spent an hour each morning following breakfast in meditations, practicing Rei's lessons. In some ways she was glad for the altercation that had happened between her and Rei. She was sure that the thought of asking the raven haired girl for training would never have come to her otherwise and she was finding her morning meditations to be quite good at helping her to focus both in her training and in her work and studies.

For her physical training, Ami, each morning, jogged over to a local gym that had taken to catering to the increased military presence in the city and whose owners therefore did not hassle Ami about being there as opposed to being at school. She, after all, technically still had a couple of years of mandatory schooling left, even if her school wanted to expel her. Before beginning her training regime, Ami had spent quite a many hours with Artemis and Erion discussing what they felt to be the most appropriate training methods, discussions that were supplemented by the insights that Luna's letters had provided with regard to her own training of Hotaru. For the moment, her training was primarily more physical than magical as a consensus had been reached that it was more important for her to regain her stamina and to redevelop her reflexes than to worry about regaining magic attacks. The attacks would come as they were needed, as had already been evidenced by her ice shield spell and that snowman spell, and what good would it be to remember a powerful magic attack if she did not have the stamina to cast it.

At first Erion had been wary of completely excluding magic, as her own training had incorporated both elements in an equal mix and ideally Ami and Artemis had to admit that that approach would be best. However, Ami was playing catch up with training, training that she should have started a long time ago and she, unfortunately, could not afford to devote her entire day to training. Her help was still needed with the research efforts and then there was her desire to continue her training with Rei. In fact, all the time that she could devote to the training was four hours in the morning. Nowhere near enough, but that was all that was available.

Walking over to her bed, Ami placed her clothing for the day down on it and removed her towel. Looking down at her body for a moment before she began to get dressed, Ami had to admit to herself that she liked the changes that had her body had gone through over the past few weeks. The training program was doing a nice job of firming up her muscle tone, something that Ryo had blushingly commented on a few times, which also caused her to blush in remembrance. The instant changes that had come from fully accepting her destiny as Sailor Mercury had not hurt either. Those changes had been primarily restricted to her face and her demeanor, but as limited as they had been they still had seemingly aged her body by a half dozen years. Some of her mother's friends had even mistakenly asked her what high school she was attending; learning that Ami still technically had nearly a full year of junior high left had shocked them.

Pulling on her pants, Ami felt a gentle nuzzle at her leg as she was fastening her belt. Turning to look down, she was not surprised to see Yoko there beside her. Reaching down, Ami scratched the fox's head, receiving a growl of contentment in return from the demon. Even if Yoko was technically an evil creature and even if Ami did have to fight off his periodic attempts to possess her, Ami couldn't help but be grateful that he had come into her life and furthermore she was sure that Usagi would agree. Picking up her top, part of her knew that she probably should feel embarrassed or upset that he was in here while she was in her current state of undress; she would after all drop in dead faint if Ryo-kun was to see her like this. However, that was just not the case with Yoko; if she had to hazard a guess, it would be because he was in ways was a part of her, living in her soul as he was.

Ami could only imagine the reaction of the others if they were to learn the truth about Yoko, as she was sure that none of them would understand her relationship with the demon and how she just knew that he was not truly evil. It was because of that that she had not corrected them in their assumption that he was a manifestation of her powers. If Usagi was here, she might have told her best friend, as Usagi would have understood and she would also be able to make the others understand, but Usagi was still in a coma and ChibiUsa, who likely would have understood as well, did not need to worry about this on top of everything else. ChibiUsa already had too many things to worry about and Ami was not about to further increase the load on that girl.

Shaking those thoughts from her mind, Ami refocused her thoughts onto her day's activities, as she began to button up her top. Today was a lesson day and as such her time at the facility would be spent primarily learning college level physics, calculus, and quantum mechanics with only cursory involvements in the research projects that she was part of. Even if she was no longer officially in school that did not mean that she had stopped with her instructions; no all it meant was that she was now able to focus in on a tailored curriculum, put together by her friends at the facility, that would allow her to become more involved in the research far sooner than she would have been able to otherwise. After all, junior high level schooling, even with Ami's habit of reading ahead just was nowhere near enough for dealing with the magic or modern military hardware. In fact, more often than not in battles her "expert" analysis of the situation to the others had been not much more than shots in the dark. The confidence she portrayed to the others being nothing more than a façade. Thankfully half remembered instincts of her previous life and a bare understanding of what her readings told her generally meant that she gave the right advice.

Half way finished with her buttons, Ami paused for a moment to say to Yoko, "Yoko-san, I want to leave early tonight and spend more time at Rei's. Could you make sure that I remember leave as soon as she gets out of class?" to which she got a yip of acknowledgement.

She had been feeling a bit melancholy this morning and so hopefully a longer than normal session helping Rei out at the shrine would help perk up her spirits. In addition, to getting over there a bit earlier than normal this afternoon, she would also be able to stay fairly late as she was not meeting Ryo for dinner tonight; Ryo's father had some kind of evening business dinner to which he was bringing his family. Thinking about his parents, Ami smiled. Those two were truly kind souls; after the newspaper article came out she expected that it would only be a matter of time before they forbade her from dating their son. The memory of that evening when they once again gave their blessing to her and Ryo-kun's relationship still warmed her heart.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

That evening had been the day after the one in which that infamous article had come out and Ami remembered that she had been walking along the sidewalk marveling at how good of a day she had had especially considering that just twenty-four hours ago it had seemed liked her world was ending. Actually, it was more like thirty-six hours ago as twenty-four hours ago she, who had never drunken alcohol before, was drunk beyond belief. Remembering that detail, Ami blushed heavily before turning her thoughts to how everyone at the facility had initially been walking on egg shells around her. Thankfully, though, that only lasted for a few hours till the word got out that she was handling everything okay after which point various personal of the facility, many of which she had only seen in passing, dropped in to see her. The various military personal, who had stopped in, were all pleased to the nines by the fact that she was wearing BDUs and now as she approached Ryo's house she decided that she would be replacing her school fuku with the JSDF's field fuku.

Reaching the door, she knocked even though Ryo's parents had told her on multiple occasions that she was free to just come on in. She hadn't had a chance to speak with Ryo other than those booze slurred words of yesterday and so she was kind of interested in finding out how things were developing at school. Thinking about what happened no longer brought pain to her and she was actually finding herself a bit eager to learn the latest gossip so as to be able to share it with the others tomorrow, especially the military folk who seemed to a find a bit of perverse humor in the school kicking out the Sailor Senshi who spent all of her evenings working in a research facility.

"Ami-san it is good to see you again," Ryo's mother said as she opened the door.

"Thank you for having me over for dinner Urawa-san," Ami said as she entered into Ryo's apartment.

"As I have said before, it is no imposition and we love that you are able to join us for dinner so often, even if more often than not it is Ryo who is the one doing the cooking. Tonight, however, we have a special meal prepared for you."

"Huh?" Ami replied, confused as to why they would be preparing special meal for her.

"We would have liked to invite your mom over as well, but she, unfortunately, had to work late tonight after having taken yesterday afternoon off."

"Ami-san, I am so glad that you were able to make it tonight and I want to give you my heartfelt thanks," Ryo's father said, as he entered into the hall, joining the conversation, as Ami was putting on a pair of house slippers.

"What do you mean?" Ami asked, realizing that she was missing something.

"We saw yesterday's paper honey," Ryo's mom said.

"The paper…" Ami repeated, trailing off at the end with her face going pale, as she realized what they were talking about.

"Hai and Ryo confirmed for us that it was you in the paper," Ryo's father added. "And your current outfit further confirms it."

Hearing that, Ami looked down at what she was wearing and realized that she was still wearing her borrowed BDUs, not exactly the best outfit if one did not want people to draw parallels with that article. "I can explain…"

"There is no need honey," Ryo's mother said in a gentle voice. "Neither Takumi nor myself agree with the stance taken by the newspaper. We both believe that you did the right thing and I think we were both subconsciously suspecting that something like this might be happening.

"Demo…"

"Ami-san, since you started joining our family for our evening meals, my wife and myself have both noticed that you have a maturity that is beyond your years. Ryo has kept your secrets, but it is also evident that he is proud of you."

"And, that I am very much, Ami-chan," Ryo said as he walked in from the kitchen where he had obviously been cooking dinner as evidenced by the apron that he wore.

"Arigato," Ami replied with tears in her eyes as Ryo walked up and gave her a hug.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Smiling at those memories, Ami knew as hard as it might be to believe that her life was far better now than it had been a year ago. She knew her purpose in life and she was sure that it would only be a matter of time before she could figure out how to save Usagi and then everything would be ideal. Therefore, it was with an upbeat mood that she finished getting dressed and summoned the jewelry that that normally accompanied her Senshi fuku. While she had decided that she felt most comfortable wearing the BDUs; they did not draw the attention that her Sailor Fuku would, but at the same time still marked her as a soldier; she still wanted to include some elements of her allegiance to Usagi on her uniform and that was where her tiara, choker, and earrings came in. And, then completing the look was a set of blue Mercury lapel pins that the Defense Minister had provided her back shortly after they had begun this partnership.

Fully dressed, Ami took a moment to examine herself in her mirror to make sure that everything looked right. Satisfied that all was good, Ami headed on downstairs where she put on her boots and then proceeded to head on out.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Thirty minutes after Luna had left to get Hotaru, she and Sailor Saturn were back at number 4 Pivot Drive. Any grogginess from having been awoken not long after she had fallen asleep had fled Hotaru when Luna mentioned the bars that she had seen on Harry's windows and now as Hotaru stood in the Dursley's backyard with Luna on her shoulder her expression hardened as she too saw those bars. For Hotaru, the bars reminded her too much of her own experience with the Death Busters and their attempts to turn her into a vessel for Mistress Nine. Whereas before she disliked Harry's uncle for the way that he treated him, now she utterly despised the man and part of her wanted to utterly level the house with a Death Reborn Revolution before cutting down Harry's supposed family. However, as much as her power yearned to be unleashed in retribution, Hotaru kept a tight lid on those desires knowing that while her mother would understand her feelings she would definitely not approve of her acting on them. However, even if she couldn't take the retribution on the Dursley's that her blood called for, she could still destroy the prison that was Harry' room and those thoughts made Hotaru smile.

"Luna-chan, are you ready?" Hotaru asked her mentor, as she summoned her Silence Glaive.

"Hai," Luna replied after taking a moment to extend her claws so as latch onto Saturn's fuku.

Hearing the affirmative response, Hotaru ran towards the house and leapt up to the second floor. Softly hitting feet first on the wall just below one of Harry's windows, Hotaru reached out and grabbed a hold of one of the bars. Then pushing off the wall, she lashed out with a sideways slash of her glaive that instantly took out the window. Landing back on the perfectly trimmed grass, Hotaru pushed hard with her legs, rebounding back up and through the now open window. Upon landing in the room, Hotaru immediately fell into a crouch, as she quickly scanned the room for threats. Finding none, she still remained poised to respond, as she waited to ensure that no one had detected her entrance.

"Saturn-chan, I think we are good," Luna whispered two minutes after they had entered the room.

Relaxing with Luna's words, Hotaru waited for Luna to hop down to the ground before standing back up and letting her glaive return to its place in subspace. Learning to be patient and to fully access new situations had been something that Luna had often lectured her on while they were traveling, especially after the incident with that village when she had run off ahead. Of course, in that situation taking the time to assess would have resulted in tragedy, but Hotaru did understand that those types of situations were the rare cases.

Now no longer worried about being attacked, Hotaru took the time to really take in the room. The room had obviously seen better days, as its paint was peeling. Obviously the room was not used much while Harry was away at school and from the pile of debris in one corner, she hazard that this room was used for nothing more than as a place to stash broken items. Though, why they were not just thrown out, Hotaru did not know. Continuing her inspection of the room, she noticed that besides the bed, the only other piece of furniture was a very battered desk that was covered in papers and books and oddly enough a bird cage. The final item in the room was a steamer trunk that appeared to actually be in decent shape and as could be expected for a teenage boy, the contents of said trunk were half in and half out of the trunk. All in all, the scene painted the image of someone who was only passing through and not of a kid home for the summer.

Curious as to what bird Harry had as a pet, Hotaru walked up to the desk. Finding an owl looking back at her, Hotaru was a bit surprised, at least until she remembered that Harry had said something about owl's delivering mail. Smiling she reached out a hand while whispering, "Hi, my name is Hotaru. We are here to rescue Harry from this place."

Hedwig had felt the sudden burst of power that had accompanied Hotaru's destruction of the window and she had become quite worried and if she had not been worried about what would have happened to Harry if she had made noise, she would have tried to awake her master and so, instead, she had decided to kept a close watch on what was happening. That time three summers ago, those redheads that her master was friendly with had come through the other window and she was wondering if it was them again. She hoped so, her master needed to be with those who cared for him. However, instead of the expected redheads, Hedwig watched in surprise as a young girl, whom she had never seen before, came through the window. Now watching the girl quite intently, Hedwig saw the girl look around the room and frown before walking up to her cage. Seeing the girl up close, Hedwig could only feel good coming from her as she spoke and so when the girl finished talking, Hedwig decided to show her understanding, which she did by nipping the girl's finger.

"Owe!" Hotaru softly cried out as she yanked her hand back and jabbed the offended finger into her mouth as tears threatened to run from the unexpected bite.

"Saturn-chan are you okay?" Luna asked.

For her part, Hedwig immediately ducked her head in a sign of apology. Realizing that the bird did not mean to hurt her, Hotaru felt some of the pain die away and replied, "I am okay. Harry's owl nipped me. I think it was saying hello. I just was not expecting it."

"Just remember to be more careful in the future. Not all animals like to be petted or disturbed." Luna said knowing that Hotaru was at that age when she would find just about any animal kawaii and would want to go pet and play with it."

"Hai," Hotaru replied before turning her attention to the boy who was sleeping on the bed.

Walking over to Harry, Hotaru paused in front of the bed wondering what was the best way to wake the older boy up. While she did not fear his relatives, having faced worse in the rural areas of China, she still wanted to avoid any confrontation and that meant waking him up in a manner that would not startle him. Hotaru, however, did not get much chance to think on the issue as within moments of her arrival at his bed, Harry began to moan as one of his frequent nightmares beset him.

Watching Harry begin to twist in his sleep as the nightmare built in intensity, Hotaru did the first thing that came to her mind for easing his nightmare and that was to crawl into the bed. Slipping under the covers, she wormed her way into Harry's arms and pulled his arms tight around her body, hoping that the warm feelings that she had felt that one time she had slept with Usagi would work in reverse and that it would also be sufficient to calm Harry. Watching Hotaru's actions from her place on the floor, Luna warmly smiled as she realized just how much of Usagi's mannerisms that the young girl had picked up in the short time that she had known the silver-haired girl. She guessed that the reason why she had never noticed that Hotaru had picked up some of Usagi's mannerisms while they were back into Tokyo was because Hotaru's relatively reserved nature allowed Usagi and ChibiUsa to overshadow any actions that she might have taken on her own, but now without either of those two present Hotaru was no longer in their shadows and she was also becoming more confident with herself as well.

_Well I guess we will be spending the night._ Luna thought a few minutes later as she noticed that both Hotaru and Harry had slipped into comfortable slumbers. While it would have been easier to escape at night, maybe it was for the best for them to wait till morning. Both kids after all had a quite tiring day with taking out those shrubs and somehow Luna had the feeling that the just squashed nightmare of Harry's was not an isolated event. Plus this way they could use the light of day to make sure that Harry did not leave anything behind that he wanted to take with him. While it looked like it should be easy to pack, as he appeared to be living out of that steamer trunk, there was no telling what little object was laying on the floor somewhere. Therefore, with that decided Luna shifted into her human form and walked over to the bed. Removing Hotaru's boots, gloves, tiara, and choker, Luna set them on the desk before returning to her feline form. Then ready to sleep herself, she hopped onto the bed and found a spot at the foot of the bed that looked to be relatively comfortable and settled herself down to sleep, finally being able to sleep in her natural feline state, something that she hadn't been able to do much since they reached civilization.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

As the morning sun began to shine through his window, Harry snuggled into the warmth that he currently was enwrapped in, quite enjoying the feeling. While his bed at school, at times, could be quite warm and comfy, it held nothing compared to this warmth that he currently felt and as such Harry did not want to awake. However, even as he thought that the more rational part of his mind began raising red flags. This was the Dursleys; there was no way that comfort could be used to describe anything about them, which meant that something was very wrong. Though, how wrong resulted in him feeling comfortable, Harry's mostly asleep mind had no idea, but he knew that he needed to know what was happening and so somewhat reluctantly, Harry found himself quickly waking up.

Opening his eyes, he was relieved to see the familiar blurry sight of his room, indicating that he had not been kidnapped during the night. Though, why any kidnapper would give him a nice warm cozy bed, Harry was not sure, but that confusion did not mean that he shouldn't be concerned about something being amiss. Wondering what was causing the warm feeling, Harry squeezed his arms tighter around his pillow. _Pillow? Wait, I only have one pillow and my head is on it. Then so what is in my arms?_

Slowly looking down, Harry was surprised to find a head of black hair resting against his chest. Now utterly confused, Harry absently reached a hand to stroke the hair of his nighttime guest as he tried to rack his memory for who this was. He could see Ginny doing something like this. Over the past year he had gotten to know the real persona of that redheaded witch and knew that if she set her mind to something that there was nothing that could stop her from doing what she wanted. However, Harry had to toss that option out as the hair color was wrong; though, as he ruled Ginny out, Harry found himself to be somewhat disappointed. The only other option that he could think of was Luna. You could never tell what that classmate of Ginny was going to do. But once again the hair color was wrong, Luna had blonde hair.

"mmm… Harry-san you need a better mattress. This one is too lumpy," Hotaru mumbled out in her sleep as she stirred, having been partially awoken by Harry's brushing of her hair.

"Hotaru?" Harry asked, suddenly realizing the girl's identity and utterly confused as to what she was doing here.

"Five more minutes, 'kay?" was Hotaru's reply as she tried to snuggle in closer to Harry.

"I'm sorry Hotaru-chan but you need to get up," Luna said, in Japanese, as she padded up and over Harry's prone body.

Hearing Luna's voice, Harry turned to look for the older girl. However, he was unable to see anyone else in the room. Though, the cat that was walking across his right arm was new.

"Hai," Hotaru replied, as she pulled back from Harry and forced herself to wakeup. Between her generally good behavior in waking up, so as to not give Kaolinite something else to chide her about and then the months spent on the trail with Luna, Hotaru was for the most part very good about waking up when Luna told her it was time. Of course, she often was not truly awake for a while afterwards, but she would be vertical, dressed, and mobile when Luna told her to get up, which is quite useful when you want to clear out of an area before people began mill about.

Watching as Hotaru sat up, Harry's eyes raised slightly as he saw the leotard that Hotaru was wearing, which was quite different from the more normal outdoors clothing that the girl had been wearing the previous day. Sitting up himself, Harry reached over to what went as a bedside table for his glasses and put them on. Glancing around the room, he noticed that there was no sign of Hotaru's pack, which he guessed made some sense as otherwise she would have been dressed in something more appropriate for sleeping. Not that he was quite sure what her current wear was really appropriate for. Realizing something else that he did not see, Hotaru's friend Luna, Harry frowned. He was sure that he had just heard the other girl's voice.

Knowing that there was only one way to get the answers to his questions, Harry gently asked Hotaru, "Hotaru what are you doing here this morning and is your friend Luna here as well? I thought I just heard her."

Smiling in anticipation of what she was going to be able to show Harry, Hotaru replied, "Yes Luna is here," before turning to Luna and saying in Japanese, "Luna, can you transform for Harry?" with wide eyes added in to make sure that Luna would not deny her.

"Hai," Luna said before leaping into Hotaru's arms. Then once she saw that she had Harry's attention, she leapt to the ground and shifted into her human form.

Now seeing people change into animals was something that was quite normal for Harry, as after all his Transfiguration professor could turn into a cat and his late godfather had been able to turn into a dog that had liked to slobber all over Harry when he had the chance. However, that said, both of those cases were with adults and while Harry had not asked Hotaru how old Luna was, he would have to guess that she was not long out of school and while his father and his father's friends had accomplished the same trick while still at school, Harry knew them to have been the exception as opposed to the rule. Though, to be fair, Hotaru was quite a bit advanced with her healing magic for someone who still had two years to go before she was a first year so maybe Luna being a prodigy was not that surprising, but even at that there was still no way that Luna should be able to talk in her feline form. He had not heard of any animagus being able to do what Luna had been doing that morning.

Seeing the shocked expression on Harry's face and misinterpreting it for Luna's ability to change into a cat, Hotaru said, "Luna is not a normal cat, she is from the Moon."

Not really hearing Hotaru's explanation, Harry replied, "That was brilliant. Professor McGonagall can turn herself into a cat, but she can't speak in her cat form. Could you teach me?" The last bit being said of course to Luna.

Turning to look at Hotaru, Luna patiently waited for Hotaru to translate Harry's excited utterance, once again wishing that she knew more English. It had gotten better of late and she could now actually order Fish and Chips on her own, but excited kid speak was still too much for her even if would have been able to otherwise recognize half of the words.

"Luna says her shape shifting is a natural ability of her people," Hotaru said translating Luna's reply before adding with a conspiratorial grin and an aside of, "She is really a cat and if you scratch the back of her neck you can get her to purr even when she is like this." Then thinking for a moment of what else Harry, had said, Hotaru asked, "You said one of your professors can turn into a cat?"

"Yeah that's right. Those that can are called animagus. I am not sure how it works, but it is supposed to be some exceptional difficult self transfiguration."

"Do they teach that at your school?" Hotaru excitedly asked, thinking of how much fun she could have as cat. If she hadn't become involved with the Sailor Senshi, a different animal such as possibly a bird, a horse, or a cheetah probably would have been first to her mind as opposed to the standard house cat. However, with her introduction to Luna, Artemis, and Diana, the house cat, or at least the alien variety, was now the perfect animal for her. They after all were immensely cuddly, smart, and very protective, all in all the perfect pet.

"Boy, time to get your lazy ass up!" the loud voice of Vernon Dursley came as he passed by Harry's door, giving it a few hefty pounds.

Hearing the voice of Harry's uncle, Harry and Hotaru went dead silent. Thankfully, for them Vernon was not paying any real attention to his nephew's room and so did not notice that Harry was speaking with a female companion.

Looking out the window and seeing how bright it was getting, Luna realized that they had spent too much time. They still needed to pack Harry's stuff and she doubted that it would be long before that abusive man returned to see why Harry was not down for his morning slave work. "Hotaru, we need to get moving," Luna said.

"Hai," Hotaru replied, before turning to Harry and saying, "Harry, we need to get going. I'll help you pack."

How many times Harry had wanted to hear someone say that to him during his stays at the Dursleys, but now that someone was finally here to take him away from his relatives and something told him that those two did not plan on having him ever return, he knew that he could not leave. He had finally been told this spring why the headmaster had placed him to live with his mother's sister and kept sending him back each summer ever though he was abused - blood magic. His mother's sacrifice that had saved him when he was a little over a year old still protected him as long as he stayed with a blood relative of his mother. The protection was of course quite weakened as evidenced by the fact that it was not able to protect him from his relatives, but the important part was that it was still strong enough to protect him from the Dark Lord and his followers.

Therefore, it was with a heavy heart a couple of minutes later when Harry got over being stunned by the revelation of being rescued for good that he had to say, "Thank you, but I have to stay."

Dropping the clothes that she had been preparing to place in the trunk, Hotaru turned to look at Harry and asked, "Why? They are worse than Kaolinite-san. Come stay with us, I'll care for you."

Touched by Hotaru's heartfelt offer, Harry got up off his bed and walked over to the nine year old. Kneeling down in front of her, he reached out and pulled her into a hug. "You don't know how much that means to me," Harry said as he held her for a few moments before releasing her. Then looking into her eyes that were shining with confusion as to why he was not coming with her, he said. "There is nothing more that I would like than to go with you, but I have to stay here; it is not safe for me elsewhere. You see there are some very bad men after me and there is some powerful magic on this house that protects me from them as long as I stay here."

"But why? They don't care for you," Hotaru tearfully asked.

"My aunt is my mother's sister and because of that the magic that was created when my mother sacrificed herself for me still protects me here."

Hearing Harry's mention of his mother's sacrifice for him immediately made Hotaru think of her own mother, of how Usagi had willingly gave her life so as to first save her from the clutches of that demon and then later again to give Sailor Erion back her soul. Overcome by those resurfaced memories, Hotaru fell into Harry's arms and sobbed. Holding the crying girl, Harry wondered if his story had triggered something with Hotaru, her tears were more than what his story should warrant and so he pulled her up against his chest and began to stroke her back.

Given his inexperience with the gentler emotions, Harry surprised himself by seemingly knowing how to handle Hotaru, as very soon after wrapping her up in an embrace the sobs began to die down slightly. The last time he had been with a crying girl had been a disaster, but maybe as he looked down at Hotaru that was because Cho had been his date and Hotaru here was just a child. He wondered what memories his story had triggered and wondered if maybe it had something to do why these two girls were out on their own. Picking Hotaru up, he walked over to the bed.

"I'm sorry about its lumpiness," Harry said as he lay Hotaru down. "Unfortunately, I need to get going. I am supposed to cook breakfast, but as soon as I get a chance I will come back up to see you. Now why don't you get some more rest?" Harry said as he lifted up the bed sheet and slipped it over Hotaru.

Having watched all of this happen, but unsure as to what had happened, Luna walked over to the bed. Sitting down beside Hotaru, she began to stroke the young girl's face as Hotaru drifted off to sleep. _I guess we won't be leaving today. I guess another day won't hurt too much. Though, I wish I knew what they were talking about. I know it brought up bad memories for Hotaru and she mentioned Kaolinite's name so I can only imagine what Hotaru is going through right now._ Luna stayed there sitting on the side of the bed for quite a many minutes until she was sure that Hotaru had finally fallen into a deep slumber. Upon standing back up, Luna absently noticed that in the rush to get Harry packed that they had forgotten about Hotaru needing to get dressed again, as the boots, gloves, and jewelry were still sitting where Luna had laid them down the previous night after having removed them from the slumbering Hotaru. Walking over to the desk, Luna picked up one of the books that was lying on top of it. Seeing its title proclaiming it to be a standard book of something, Luna carried it over to the wall opposite Harry's window. Sitting down on the floor, in a patch of sunlight, Luna opened the book to its first page and began to see if she could read any of it.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

To Harry's surprise that morning he was given a relatively short list of chores to complete. His relatives obviously had not expected him to have finished removing the shrubs in one day, even though he knew that they would have still punished him for having failed to complete the impossible. As Harry worked on his chores, he took advantage of the light load to allow his mind to wander to his two guests and their mysteries. Yesterday they were just a pair of girls passing through, even if at least one of them was a witch, but now that they had returned last night he knew that there was more to them and he wondered why they were here, as it appeared to have nothing to do about Lord Voldemort or him being the Boy Who Lived. Then there was the issue of what had set off Hotaru this morning. He hoped that she was feeling better now. He really wished that he hadn't had to leave her up there, but there was no way he could get out of his chores.

Though the list of chores that Harry had been given was short, his distracted mind meant that they ended up still taking a fair bit of time and so it was not till late afternoon that he was finally finished for the day. Walking into the kitchen, he collected his evening meal ration, a few scraps of meet, a couple of slices of bread, and a glass of water, before making his way up to his room.

Entering his room, he found the two girls sitting on his bed with the younger one reading aloud from his text book in that foreign language that the other one spoke. Watching Hotaru read like that for a few moments, he decided that the older one, Luna if he remembered correctly, had found a good way to sneak Hotaru into studying. While he, of course, never had that type of opportunity, he had to suspect that having the chance to be useful to someone older like that would chase away any thoughts about it being school work and from the happy expression on Hotaru's face he was that was the case for her.

Deciding to make his presence known, Harry said, "I am finished with my chores for the day and I have brought dinner. I am sorry it is not much."

Closing the book immediately upon hearing Harry's voice, much to the dismay of Luna who was really enjoying the refresher on magic, Hotaru bounced out of the bed and over to Harry. "Harry-san they didn't make you do anything too much today did they?" Hotaru asked.

Taking the couple of steps to close the gap between himself and Hotaru, he absently ruffled the girl's hair while saying, "Nope. I don't think they expected you to have been able to help me as much as you did yesterday. Most of my chores today were just make work; I don't think I have had a lighter day of work since I arrived." Then having said that, Harry knelt down and placed the plate of food on the ground before sitting down himself.

While Hotaru had bounded over to Harry, Luna had gotten up at a more sedate pace and had headed over to their packs – packs that she had Hotaru retrieve during the day – and began removing some food items. Sending Hotaru out for the packs had been risky, as she could have been spotted with it being daylight, but Luna had a strong feeling that they would need the food. She and Hotaru could, though, have gone the day without food if they needed to, but she highly suspected that Harry was likely barely being given sustenance rations, if that much, and so she wanted to get him on to a better diet as soon as possible, especially as there was likely no way that he would let Hotaru go without food. More than likely if he had any kind of half way good heart, he would insist on the younger Hotaru eating all of his food, even if he was the one who needed it far more than her.

Walking over to where Harry and Hotaru were now sitting down on the ground and eying the food while wondering how to convince the other to eat it all, Luna said, "Hotaru-chan, why don't the two of you eat that as an appetizer while I take care of cooking the rest of dinner?"

_Wha…_ ran through Harry's head as he looked up at Luna and saw her place various object on the ground as Hotaru translated the older girl's request.

"The two of us have been backpacking our way here from Japan, so we have our own food rations to share. While it might not be as tasty as something home cooked; it will give you the needed calories and the nutrients." Luna said for Hotaru to translate, as she began setting up the one burner camp stove.

"Hotaru what was that outfit that you were wearing this morning when we woke up?" Harry asked, as Luna began to prepare dinner.

"That? Well why don't I show you," Hotaru said with a smile as she bounded up onto her feet. She and Luna had talked that morning about whether it would be safe for her to use her magic and avoid detection by this Ministry of Magic and Luna had decided that it should be fine, as she seemed to remember that the magic of the Sailor Senshi was very different than the magic that the mages, such as the Queen used and if for some reason it was detected she, Luna, would deal with the Ministry. Then giving Harry a wide smile, the young girl flicked her wrist to summon her transformation wand, wanting to give him the full nine yards, and called out "Saturn Crystal Power Make-Up."

Harry found Hotaru's ability to summon the transformation wand to be interesting and he made a note to ask her about that once she was done. If it was something more than just a slight of hand he could see many uses of it, not the least of being a great place to keep his wand. However, those thoughts were immediately blown away when Hotaru called out her transformation phrase and a ring of violet energy erupted from the floor. He could only watch on transfixed as that energy formed into ribbons that spiraled in a cylinder around Hotaru while a pink glow formed at the girl's chest and a silver violet glow at her forehead. Then as Hotaru arched her back, the energy in the chest exploded in another spray of deep violet ribbons before an explosion of energy from her back forced her upright. That energy, which for a moment looked like black wings wrapped forward and formed into her body suit while the energy ribbons that had exploded from her front wrapped around her arms and legs to form her gloves and boots. Then as a final act, the glow of energy on her forehead first carved an upturned curved line before exploding away in silver dust to leave behind a violet sigil of Saturn that lay upon a silver starburst back ground. Finally settling down to the ground, Hotaru reached forward with her right hand and the energy that had encircled her during the transformation pulled together to form into her glaive.

Giving the glaive a subconscious spin, Hotaru turned to face the now gob smacked Harry with a very large grin on her face and waited patiently for Harry to regain his senses, which took many, many times longer than the few seconds it took for her transformation to occur.

Even though she had seen Hotaru transform many times before, Luna had also looked up from her dinner preparations when she heard her charge say her transformation phrase. Consequently, Luna was able to see that Hotaru's transformation had changed slightly and now looking at the girl's outfit she could also see some minor differences in the costume as well. For the most part it was still the same, but the ribbons looked to be a little longer and oddly the tiara no longer had a gem in its center. Instead, there appeared to be a cut out in the gold metal that exactly matched the girl's unique sigil, which itself raised questions as to why the sigil of Saturn had changed and what the inclusion of the starburst background meant.

"Bloody hell," Harry said, borrowing Ron's favorite phrase, which seemed to be very appropriate for what he had just witnessed. This was magic unlike anything he had ever seen before and the wave of power he felt radiating out from her when she had changed made what he felt at the Ministry when his headmaster and the Dark Lord had fought seem like nothing and for the first time in a long time he felt perfectly safe.

"I am known as Sailor Saturn. We are the protectors of the Moon Princess and the guardians of this world," Hotaru said beginning the explanation that she and Luna had discussed. "There is one of us for each of the other planets in this system and my mother, the princess, also used to fight as one of as, as Sailor Moon, and my sister does as well as Sailor ChibiMoon."

Knowing that he was going to have to ask his studious friend, Hermione, if she had heard anything about these Sailor Senshi, Harry asked, "You mother, she doesn't fight anymore?" wondering if it was because her sister had taken her mother's place.

Now if Harry had remembered how she had reacted in the morning when he had mentioned his own mother's sacrifice he might not have asked that question or at least he might have been more prepared for the sight of this formidable warrior suddenly collapsing into a ball as tears streamed down her face, as she whimpered "Hai, and it's all my fault."

Harry did nothing for a few moments, before his mind kicked in and reached over and pulled the now sobbing younger girl into his arms. Situating Hotaru in them, he looked over at Luna hoping that she would shed some light on the situation. However, she just looked back at him with an expression that he interpreted to mean that she wanted him to calm Hotaru down. Confused, as he was sure that Luna would do a better job of this, Harry just held Hotaru close to his chest as he waited out her tears.

Luna knew that she was taking a bit of a gamble with letting Harry take care of Hotaru. However, this was the second time that Hotaru had broken down today and after having been able to go weeks without an incident and when she did have one having only ones that were all much more minor than this. She admitted that it wasn't really the best set of circumstances to go on, but her gut told her that this was needed for Hotaru and Harry to bond and that maybe Harry was to be the one who would allow Hotaru to finally let go of her pain.

"Hotaru what's wrong?" Harry asked once the young girl had finally calmed down.

Feeling relaxed and safe in Harry's arms as he rubbed her back, she began to haltingly speak, "I am the reason why my mother is in a coma. I attacked her, I killed her."

Giving Hotaru a comfortable squeeze, Harry continued in his ministrations and said, "I am sure that there is more to it than that; otherwise you friend Luna would not be here with you."

"Hai," Hotaru replied, before beginning to tell the story of that final battle against the Death Phantom, about how she had become his pawn and had attacked Sailor Moon without remorse and then of how she had awoken to her power and had broken free of his hold. She explained how she had been forced to kill her own father, how Usagi had adopted her, and finally she ended with the dual spell that had set Sailor Lead Crow free and had resulted in her mother having to be encased in a crystal stasis to avoid dying.

Listening to Hotaru's story, Harry felt for the girl. She was so young and to have such memories, memories that made the fiasco at the Department of Mysteries look minor. Lifting Hotaru slightly and adjusting her position so that he was looking into her eyes, Harry said, "Hotaru, I am sure that your mother and the others don't blame you. You were possessed, but you were able to fight off the possession and you were then able to help your mother defeat the enemy and from what you said your attacks only helped make your mother stronger, by giving her reason to access more of her power. As for what happened at the end that was not your fault. You didn't know that healing that Sailor Lead Crow was going to do that and I have a feeling that your mother would still have done the same thing even if she knew the risk."

Hotaru nodded her head in understanding, as she sniffled and wiped away her tears. Looking up at Harry she hesitantly sent him an unasked question, which Harry saw. Pulling her into his arms, Harry gave her a hug.

"You know, I am somewhat in awe of you," Harry said once Hotaru was sitting in his lap facing him again. "You see, I have had to face some of what you have had to as well, but I haven't been able to stop the one who killed my parents nor do I think I can even, though, I am supposedly the only one who can."

"What do you mean Harry-san?" Hotaru gently asked as her own sorrows suddenly faded from being something to be concerned about.

"Voldemort," Harry replied. Then seeing the blank stare he got back, Harry began elaborating, first explaining about the first war and then describing what had happened over his past five years of schooling. As Harry talked, Hotaru slipped out of his lap and managed to convince Harry to lean against her chest. Reacting to the warmth that he felt as his head was pulled into Hotaru's embrace, Harry snaked his arms around the young girl's back and held her tightly as he tearfully described finding Ginny's unconscious and barely alive body in the Chamber of Secrets, a memory that chilled him even more now.

It was not till the sun began to set that Harry finally exhausted his own soul confession, having finished with how he was the one responsible for killing his godfather and even telling her of the prophecy. Under any other circumstance, Harry would never have shared the contents of the prophecy with anyone else, but emotionally exhausted as he was, he found an overwhelming need to share the burden he was caring.

"Harry-san, Harry-san," Hotaru whispered as she stroked the older boy's black hair. The two of them were in some ways two peas in a pod, both burdened by fate with responsibilities better suited for those far older and as she listened to his story, she decided that he was not going to have to face this destiny of his alone. She was not sure how long that she was going to be allowed to stay here with him, but while she was, she would be his shadow. Just as the others had their job to protect the princess, she would protect him.

Turning to look at Luna, who had finished cooking dinner a long time ago, Hotaru said, "He has a destiny like ours. There is a prophecy that states that he is the only one capable of defeating a Dark Lord who wants to enslave this land. He has already faced him many times, but he has not been given any training. Can you teach him?" Hotaru asked.

"Iie, I cannot," Luna replied to the shock of Hotaru, before explaining, "But you can. You are the soldier here and so he will learn more from you than from myself. Furthermore, this will help you develop your instincts and skills."

"Demo…" Hotaru replied, not believe that she was capable.

"Hotaru, look down," Luna said. "You have already taken the first step; you are holding a young man who I believe has never opened up close to your heart after having gotten him to release his worries. He will trust you and that trust will keep you from doing wrong. Usagi would say the same thing. The Usagi that is your mother is far stronger than the person that she was a year ago and that is because ChibiUsa trusted in her and her parents trusted in her to do the right thing. And, in the same way I am trusting in you and I know you will do your mother proud. You will form Harry into a powerful knight and when we return to Tokyo, you will be able to stand beside you mother as a leader of the Sailor Senshi." Minako might have been the commander of the Sailor Senshi back during the Silver Millennium and she would still be in charge of the Royal Guard detail, but Luna had begun to realize of late that the role of the day-to-day Commander-in-Chief of Usagi's forces would likely fall to Hotaru, as Second Princess of the Moon.

"Hai, Luna-chan, I will do as you say."

"Now don't worry too much Hotaru. I never said that I wasn't going to help you. You are just going to be the one actually instructing Harry and the one making the final calls."

"Hai," Hotaru replied more upbeat this time, as she realized that she wasn't going to be all alone in doing this. "Oh, Luna there is one other thing. Harry mentioned that he has some kind of connection to a Dark Lord that is trying to take over this land because of his scar and that the Dark Lord is also able to send him visions.

Hearing this, Luna eyes narrowed, as she began to consider what it meant. While Hotaru had not been specific by what she meant as a connection, Luna had a feeling that there was something more than just a casual connection between this boy and the self-proclaimed Dark Lord. The question, however, was how to break that connection. Hotaru did have her healing powers and her powers of Sailor Saturn definitely could cleave a magical connection. But if this was a something that was old as opposed to being recent, such a cleaving could have substantial detrimental effects on the boy as his soul by now would have at least partially incorporated that connection. Most likely that was the reason why he was prophesized as being the one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord, as he been granted with the evil wizard's powers and he just needed the right training and guidance to mold that power into his own. Usagi would have to be the one to heal the boy. Her purification magic would destroy the link while avoiding damage to Harry and likely would strengthen the stolen power as well. However, even if they couldn't get rid of the link at the moment that did not mean that they couldn't reduce the threat that it posed to Harry.

"Hotaru, once Usagi awakes we will ask her to use her 'Moon Healing Escalation' on Harry. Until then, I may be able to place at least a partial block on the connection," Luna explained, deciding that for Harry's sake that it would probably be best that she did not explain that she was actually only going to seal the mental connection, but leave the inherited powers alone.

"Hai," Hotaru replied before turning her attention to Harry. Shaking the boy who was resting in her embrace, she patiently waited for him to lift his head so that she could tell him the good news. Once she saw, Harry's tear strewn face, she happily said, "Luna-chan thinks that she can help you block you connection with Voldemort."

Harry's features perked up for a moment before he remembered how absolutely dismal he had been in learning occulmency from his potions professor last year. "Thanks, Hotaru. But one of my professors already tried to teach me to shield my mind, but I can't manage even the most basic shield."

"I don't think you need to learn anything. Luna is going to do it herself," Hotaru explained, not deterred by the less than enthused reception she had gotten.

"How?" Harry asked as he pulled back from Hotaru to sit upright.

Having heard the question and guessing its contents, Luna began explaining to Hotaru what she was going to do. _If she can really do this..._ Harry thought to himself as Hotaru translated Luna's explanation and hope began to build in his body. "Tell her that I am ready," Harry said as he turned to face Luna.

Walking over to Harry and Hotaru, Luna sat down and stared into Harry's eyes as she activated her limited telepathic powers, which was evidenced by her sigil glowing brightly. Once the mental connection was established, she reached out, searching for the largest sign of darkness, knowing that it would be the link to this Dark Lord. Harry's mind was surprisingly open to her, having been laid bare by all of the mental probing attacks during his occulmency lessons and from Voldemort's attacks as well. As such, Luna quickly found the mental part of the connection. However, she soon found building a block to be far more difficult than she had anticipated, not because of the strength of the connection that was not a factor, but because of how open his mind was, there was little pre-existing material to use in constructing the barrier. Forced to rely more on her own mental energies for building the block, Luna slowly began constructing the block from her Lunar energies.

From the outside, Hotaru watched as Harry and Luna fell into a pair of linked trances. Luna had told her that the process might take a few moments so for the first couple of minutes Hotaru was not worried when nothing seemed to happen. However, as the process dragged on through five minutes, worry began to build in the young girl's mind, worry that quickly began to grow as she noticed Luna begin to slump. Worried, Hotaru crawled over to Luna and tried to use her healing powers to help the other girl, but there was nothing that she could latch onto as needing to be healed.

"Firefly you wish to help," a voice said as an ethereal form formed in front of her.

"Who are you?" Hotaru asked of the girl who was dressed in a purple dress with very dark violet hair.

"I am you, you are me. We are Saturn," the girl cryptically replied before seemingly to dissolve into motes of lights that became fireflies that spread out into the room.

"You have already taken the first step in embracing yourself, now help the one that you seek to place under your name," the voice said again, seeming to speak from just behind Hotaru's left ear and with those words Hotaru found herself no longer sitting in Harry's bedroom but standing in a field at dusk with fireflies everywhere.

Confused and not remembering what she had been doing before she arrived, the barefoot Hotaru, in civilian guise, began walking across the field. She walked for several minutes before she came across Harry who was standing on a rise. Walking up to stand beside the older boy, Hotaru said no words; instead, she looked up to see what he was looking at. Looking up she saw something flying around in the sky. Watching it for some time, she was eventually able to make out that it was a redheaded girl flying around on some kind of shaft. Not paying any attention to the strangeness of the situation, she looked back at Harry and smiled at him, knowing that there was at least some happiness in his life and with that thought Hotaru once again found herself back in Harry's room, holding a now unconscious Luna.

"Luna-chan!" Hotaru worriedly cried, as she laid the other girl down on the ground.

Looking up at Hotaru, Luna said, "Don't worry Hotaru-chan. Placing that block just took more out of me than I thought it would. Thank you for your help, though."

"My help?"

"Hai, I don't think I would have been able to do it if it weren't for you. I felt your presence there as I was building the block and then suddenly the Moon energy flowed from everywhere giving me what I needed to build the block. Also you presence seemed to attract memories that will work to shield and strengthen the block and with any luck even protect the rest of his mind if he develops it.

"Is she okay?" Harry worriedly asked once Luna had finished talking to Hotaru.

"Yes she is. Luna-chan just says that it took more out of her than she expected. But she says she was able to put the block in place and she thinks you might even be able to grow it to protect the rest of you mind."

Hearing that, Harry's mood perked up quite a bit. While he was already excited at having his connection to Voldemort blocked, no more nightmares and visions, having his mind protected against legilimency attacks was a very nice bonus. Even if only a few of Voldemort's followers were sufficiently skilled, it was one less thing that he would have to worry about. Any further thoughts or discussion on the matter, however, were cut off when both Harry and Hotaru's stomachs loudly growled reminding the two of them that it was nearly nine and that they had only had a meager start to dinner so far.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"ChibiUsa-chan wait up," a classmate of ChibiUsa called out having spied ChibiUsa coming out of a store in front of her.

"Mikoto-chan," ChibiUsa replied as she turned to face her classmate.

"No Diana-chan or Naru-san with you this afternoon?" Mikoto asked as she realized that ChibiUsa only had one of three normal shadows.

"Hai, Diana-chan is out doing something else today and Naru-onee-san is helping her mother out at the store."

"So you are free then?" Mikoto asked.

"Hai," ChibiUsa replied.

"Then why don't you come over to my place and we can hang out. And, you can let your cousin play with my sister so that you don't have to be watching her," Mikoto offered capitalizing on the opportunity to have ChibiUsa over. She had begun to make friends with the new girl last term, but ChibiUsa had become more distant this term and she wanted to get her friend back. However, ChibiUsa was almost always with that other new girl Diana and the older girl who now watched over ChibiUsa intimidated Mikoto, she wondered what had happened to ChibiUsa's cousin.

"I'm not…" ChibiUsa began knowing that she was supposed to go on home and begin on her homework.

"I just got the Sailor Moon game," Mikoto offered with a grin.

"Hai!" ChibiUsa, who had come to share her mother's love for video games, enthusiastically replied and so with that settled the two girls began walking down the street towards Mikoto's house.

"ChibiUsa-chan, why do you always have your cousin with you?" Mikoto asked after the three of them had been walking for a bit.

"ChibiChibi?" ChibiUsa asked.

"Hai," Mikoto replied. _And what kind of name is ChibiChibi anyways?_ Mikoto thought to herself imagining the teasing that ChibiUsa's little cousin would get when she got older.

The truthful answer to that question was that ChibiChibi was ChibiUsa' means to henshin and now that she knew that she could fight again, she didn't want to ever be caught without ChibiChibi and therefore forced to remain on the sidelines. However, she couldn't exactly tell her friend that. "ChibiChibi has a habit of following after me when I leave her at home, so Ikuko-mama thought that I should just take her along with me," ChibiUsa said as she decided on a response.

Seeing her friend's raised eyebrow, ChibiUsa began explaining her statement, "We don't know how she does it, but she is always sneaking out of the house even if Ikuko-mama is watching her. I can't imagine doing what she does, I would have gotten lost the first time."

Hearing that, Mikoto paused and turned to look at the little troublemaker. _She looks so cute and innocent, but so does Kimiko just before she wrecks my room._ Mikoto thought to herself. Then squatting down to look at ChibiChibi at eye level she said, "So you are a little trouble maker, aren't you."

"Chibi!" ChibiChibi replied enthusiastically, as if she was quite proud of all the times that she had worried Ikuko and the others with her disappearing acts. Of course none of those that she worried knew that she was in fact the strongest being in the universe and so was quite safe; though, after the incident at Rei's school the Sailor Senshi were beginning to realize that there was quite a bit more to ChibiChibi than what there was at the surface.

Smiling at the response of the little girl, who obviously did not understand that she was being accused of being a trouble maker, Mikoto stood back up and resumed walking down the street, this time discussing their mutually unsuccessful attempts to learn to play volleyball in gym. However, before the two of them were able to get far, ChibiUsa found herself suddenly airborne as stranger elbowed her severely in her stomach. Hitting the wall hard first with her back and then with her head, ChibiUsa slumped to the ground barely conscious of what was happening around her and of the other pedestrians who came up to see if she was okay while others turned to yell at the man who had attacked her.

The man, however, was not at all cowed by the words of reproach he was receiving, for his attentions were focused strictly on Mikoto. The others were of no consequence. Painfully grabbing a hold of Mikoto's arm, he said, "Children have the nicest dreams and where best for the Pegasus to hide than in your dream."

Stunned by the man's sudden attack on her friend, Mikoto was unable to do anything as he gripped her arm tight enough to bring tears to her eyes. Only when he began to speak again did her shock wear off; unfortunately, it was replaced immediately by immense fear.

"Now why don't we take a look at your dream mirror," the man said before snapping his finger and calling out "One!"

The curtain that suddenly appeared when he began his count quickly spread fear to the others as they all realized that this was one of those demon masters and to the last one they all quickly ran away, fearful for their lives, abandoning the three kids. Now free of any distraction, not that he cared about them in the first place, the now revealed Hawk Eye summoned his Lemure and strapped Mikoto to the examination board before pulling out her dream mirror. And, then without any regard he shoved his head into her dream mirror and began to poke around in her dream, causing her intense pain.

Hearing those screams, the murkiness that ChibiUsa felt in head from having banged her head on the brick wall began to clear. Looking up, it took a few moments of concentration, but she was eventually able to focus on the source of the screams and to her horror found Mikoto being attacked. Struggling with all of her effort, ChibiUsa pushed herself up off the ground and stood; though, a spell of dizziness once she became upright threatened to send her back to the ground. However, she was already feeling her mind begin to clear as concern over her friend pumped adrenaline into her blood.

"Chibi?" ChibiChibi, who was standing in front of and looking straight up at ChibiUsa, asked, to which ChibiUsa simply nodded her reply, having understood the question.

"Chibi!" ChibiUsa replied before closing her eyes and letting her own Sailor power explode out from her body, transforming her into Sailor Chibi ChibiMoon. Then once the transformation was complete, she reached out her hand to ChibiUsa, initiating the preting transformation.

"Is this the Light of Hope?" a pedestrian who had only run as far as the nearest ally asked herself as she watched the youngest girl merge with the other free girl. The transformation of the youngest had taken her a bit by surprise due to the amount of energy that she could sense in the little girl. The girl's presence felt as if she centuries old, not the mere few years that she appeared to be. However, that all paled by the merging, which was utterly unprecedented and this new Senshi was not simply using the little girl's power, but was a whole different Senshi in of herself. But still something did not feel quite right about this new Senshi, it was almost as if something was being forced. Now, however, was not the time for those questions and she would need to get her sisters' input. No, now was time for action.

"Fighter, Healer, there is another demon attack," Maker said into her communicator before giving them directions and calling upon her own powers.

Unaware of the quasi-ally that had witnessed her transformation, ChibiUsa, as Sailor Moon, moved to save her friend. "How dare you attack innocent children enjoying a summer afternoon. I am Sailor Moon and in the name of the future and present Moon, I will punish you!" ChibiUsa declared garnering the attention of the demon master.

Unhappy at the interruption, Hawk Eye pulled his head out of the dream mirror and turned to face the interloper. Though, upon seeing that it was just a child he laughed. "You think that you, a mere child, can defeat me?"

Hearing the challenge, ChibiUsa realized that she had failed to contact the others and gulped knowing that she was likely in over her head. However, letting none of that fear show, she replied, "My mother was the greatest of all the Senshi and like her I will not let you attack my city."

Hearing the past tense, Hawk Eye smiled and taunted ChibiUsa with his reply, "And where is your mother the greatest of all Senshi? Dead I would imagine, defeated by a foe lesser than me. But as this girl does not have what I am looking for I will be benevolent, I will just leave a Lemure to finish the two of you off." While Hawk Eye had been having quite a bit of fun poking around in the girl's dreams, even though he had very quickly discerned that she was not harboring the Pegasus, the pleasure of making her scream had worn off and he saw no fun in battling a pint sized Senshi, hence his offer.

Internally ChibiUsa gave a sigh of relief as the demon master stated his intention to leave her alone with a demon and to not join in the fight himself. Activating the panic button on her wrist communicator, she settled into one of the combat stances that she had recently learned during her martial arts lessons and waited for the demon to appear.

Watching this all happen from behind the corner that she was hidden behind, Sailor Maker had to give the little girl credit for not showing any fear. The others in the system might be on the soft side, but it looked like someone at least understood what they were doing with sending this one out into the field. She didn't have any idea of the strength of this Sailor Moon, but Maker couldn't believe that she could be that much weaker than the majority of the other Senshi of this system. Though, the girl's mention of her mother had caught Maker's attention, realizing that this must be that powerful, but recently deceased Senshi that they had inferred the existence of and that made her all the more eager to see what this youngling was capable of.

For the next five minutes, Maker watched the young Senshi fight the demon and for the most part Maker's original assessment of Sailor Moon was upheld as the young Senshi did a reasonable job of holding her ground. She was still slowly losing ground, but not at an unreasonable rate given her youth and obvious inexperience, but the girl was surprisingly nimble on her feet and she had managed to get in a few good shots with her tiara, even if a couple of them had gone quite wide. Though, the use of the tiara puzzled Maker. While it was not unknown for Sailor Senshi to use talismans to focus their powers, it seemed that the young Senshi did not have any other attacks, no innate magic that she could unleash with just her hands. _Maybe she is still adjusting to learning to merge with that other youngling. If she only just gained her power, that could explain why she still needs a talisman for focusing her powers._ Maker thought to herself and then having seen enough, she walked out into the street and joined the battle.

Firing a blast of energy that knocked the demon off its feet, she turned to the young Senshi and said, "Sailor Moon, you will make a strong Senshi one day. However, you are not yet ready to face these threats alone, let me help you."

ChibiUsa had initially been relieved when the demon was blasted off its feet and away from her, as she had been tiring and knew that there was no way that she was going to be able to defeat it on her own and was just hoping that the others would arrive before she faltered. However, when she saw that her help was one of those other Senshi and not one of her friends, she felt her stomach drop out knowing that while the demon was no longer going to be an issue, she was going to be in trouble once it was gone and they could turn their attention on her. Consequently, she was quite taken back by the very supporting words that Sailor Maker spoke to her; making her wonder if she had hit her head harder than she thought.

"Arigato," ChibiUsa tentatively replied.

"It is only the truth," Maker said after she fired off another attack at the demon. "You are a true Senshi unlike the others and while you don't appear to have mastered your attacks outside of using a talisman, you just need to give time to your meditations."

"Hai," ChibiUsa numbly replied, not believing the words that she was hearing and at the same time ecstatic about the recognition.

"Sister that is a young one that you have found there," Fighter said as she along with Healer landed in the street.

Turning her attention from the pint sized Sailor Moon to her two sisters, Maker replied, "It looks like someone here actually knows how to train Sailor Senshi. She is not ready to be on her own, but she is in much better shape than the others."

"Is that so?" Healer asked.

"Yes and there is more. However now is not the time, we still have a demon to defeat."

Giving their nods of agreement, Fighter and Healer along with Maker and ChibiUsa turned their attention back to the demon in front of them. Now faced with three battle hardened Sailor Senshi, the demon quickly found itself to be the one losing ground as it was battered by attack after attack. The demon was not a particularly strong one as Hawk Eye had seen no need to waste anything stronger than the weakest one on a child Sailor Senshi, conveniently ignoring how much more powerful the quartet of young girls that was the Amazon Quartet were than him and the rest of the Amazon trio. Not one to be left out, ChibiUsa stayed in the midst of the battle using her tiara from afar and when she found herself in close, lashing out with kicks and punches before jumping clear until before long she felt a power build inside of her as a bell twinkled.

Feeling the resulting shift in energies, the other combatants all paused, which allowed them to see the Pegasus appear and boost Sailor Moon's power, causing her to go through a second transformation. Turning back to the demon, ChibiMoon with wand in hand unleashed a Spiral Heart Attack, obliterating the Lemure.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Ami's was in the middle of attempting to solve part of the wave equation for the hydrogen atom when her communicator relayed ChibiUsa's panic alarm. Dropping her pencil, Ami quickly brought out her computer and began the process of triangulating ChibiUsa's position by using the relayed information from the other communicators, as she picked up the phone to call in the attack to the control center. Then hanging up the phone, she was already moving out of her office, as she used her communicator to relay to the others the location of the attack. Racing down the hallways and out of the building, Ami was wasted no time in jumping into the jeep that was idling out in front, which took off as soon as Ami was in it.

"What do we know about this attack?" the MP driving the vehicle asked.

"Unfortunately, only its location and that the Princess is the one engaging it. She used her panic alarm so we don't have any intel," Ami replied as she called up streets maps and satellite images for that section of city.

"Understood, the general wanted me to let you know that reinforcements will be onsite in under fifteen minutes."

"Thank you soldier," Ami replied as she filed away that information. Based on her estimation of where the others were it looked like she would be the first to arrive, followed shortly thereafter by the military forces and the rest of the Sailor Senshi. For her it would be seven minutes till she arrived and while she probably could peel a minute off that time by taking the roofs and pushing herself, doing so would leave her exhausted and as ChibiChibi was with ChibiUsa she had confidence that her princess would be okay with her taking an extra minute to arrive with her energy intact.

Thinking about ChibiChibi as the MP raced through the streets, Ami had to admit that she still had no idea of how that girl did what she did or why her computer refused to scan her. Not even her meditations with Rei were helping her. All that she got from those was the sense of warmness and love, much as she would typically get from Usagi, which only made sense if ChibiChibi was supposed to be Usagi's little sister. But ChibiChibi was not Usagi's little sister so that did not help. Though, as puzzling as ChibiChibi's identity was that was not what was really stumping Ami, it was her ability to cause ChibiUsa to become Sailor Moon by merging with her. While the others were for the most part content to take what was happening at face value, Ami wouldn't be satisfied until she was able to solve the mystery and figure out how it fit into the model that she was mentally building of what it meant to be a Sailor Senshi or in Erion's terminology a Star Child.

The thoughts on ChibiChibi sufficiently distracted Ami that before she knew it, the MP was pulling the jeep to a stop just over a block away from the target zone. Getting out of the jeep, she thanked the driver as she subconsciously let her form shift into her Sailor fuku. Then removing her rifle from her subspace pocket she and Yoko, who was now beside her, took to the roofs to traverse the final block by foot. Even though she now had all of her magic back, she had still summoned her rifle, the behavior having become instinctive during the time in which she was unable to henshin.

Running along the roof of the two buildings that were in her way, Ami quickly arrived at the edge and paused for a moment to determine the situation. Not seeing any demon, but seeing the three other Senshi, she figured that they probably had already dispatched the demon, especially given the coloration of ChibiUsa's fuku. However, that only meant that they were now free to take on ChibiUsa, which they appeared to be in the progress of doing as they advanced on the young girl. Shouldering her rifle, Ami fired a warning shot before leaping off the building to land in front of her princess.

"You will not harm her!" Ami declared, looking upon the three advancing Senshi with cold eyes. Beside her, Yoko responded to her feelings by bearing his teeth and letting his demonic powers slip into the power that was radiating off of Mercury.

Seeing yet another new Senshi, the three sisters were brought up short. From the expression of this new arrival it was clear that she would attack them if they moved any closer and all three of them further sensed that she was neither weak nor would she hold her punches.

"Mercury-chan, it is okay," ChibiUsa said as she walked up beside Ami and placed a hand on Ami's side.

Turning her head slightly, Ami looked down at ChibiUsa and raised an eye brow in question.

"They haven't done anything to me and I don't think they were planning to either."

"Unlike the others, Sailor Moon and you are strong. You do not have anything to fear from us," Maker said looking into Ami's eyes. Then turning to look down at ChibiUsa, she added, "You did well," before turning away and along with her sisters leaving, which left a confused Ami and a smiling ChibiUsa behind.

A few miles away Maker and her sisters paused their departure. Turning to look at the others Maker said, "It looks like this system has another real Senshi; though, I don't understand where she has been all of this time. While she might be capable of training the youngling, I don't want to risk it, as this system cannot afford to have another soft Senshi."

"No, we would be remiss if we did not do everything that we could to prepare the Senshi of this system for Galaxia. What do you suggest?" Healer replied.

"I saw her transformation so I know what she looks like without that glamour that they use in this system and later tonight we need to talk about that transformation as well as what happened at the end of the battle."

"Why what happened?" Fighter asked.

"It is too long to get into now, but she is no ordinary Senshi. She might be this Light of Hope that our princess wants us to find." Maker said eliciting gasps of surprise from the others.

"Are you sure?" Healer asked.

"I am, but that is for later. I think we should see about training her ourselves and since I know what she looks like…"

"You want us to kidnap her?" Healer asked.

"No, while that would be the most efficient method, it would take far too long for us to regain her trust. No, I am thinking that Fighter should approach her on the side and train her."

"Me?" Fighter asked.

"You are the youngest of us and I have a feeling that you would bond the best with her. You are still quite idealistic and you saw the way that she stopped that other Senshi."

"I understand," Fighter said already beginning to look forward to meeting this girl that had caught the attention of her older sister.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Over the course of the week that followed the arrival of Harry's unique house guests, Harry found his daily routine turned upside down. While he still had his daily chores to do, they were now only a minor part of his day, something to get over with as fast as possible for he was quickly learning that Hotaru under her cuteness was a slave driver. Each morning she would have him up before dawn for training, training that would last until he had to return to the Dursleys to make dinner and training that resumed, following a short break, once he had finished his afternoon chores and continued late into the night. It was on the second night of this training program when he discovered how dallying in his chores was a mistake. As a result of his dallying they got a late start for his evening training; however, Hotaru still had him train for the same length of time and then proceeded to wake him up at the same time the following morning.

Following Luna's suggestions, Hotaru began their morning training sessions with a long jog to loosen up Harry's muscles and to tire out his body, for as Luna had pointed out, for a long while he would have less endurance than adult wizards and so would need to be able to still fight and dodge even when he was exhausted. Thankfully for Harry, the size of the castle that was Hogwarts meant that he had already built up a good amount of stamina just from walking to and from his classes, otherwise keeping up with Hotaru would have been impossible. However, even with that being the case, he barely had the strength to stand upright long enough to make breakfast for his relatives upon returning home in the morning. At least the Durselys had seem to run out of any really strenuous chores and Hotaru spent the evening training sessions teaching him some of the forms that Luna had taught her and then having him spend the last few hours meditating in an effort to connect better with his magic. That final bit was something that she had thought of on her own and was a result of her own desires to gain a better handle on her own power.

The Dursleys were of course quite suspicious of the fact that Harry was spending so much time away from the house and their desire for him to not be doing anything freakish or talking with his freak friends warred with the upside of having around far less. What tipped the balance to them letting him spend so much time away from the house and even reducing his chore load, if ever so slightly, was his comment that they did not need to feed him breakfast or dinner. Not that the scraps of food that he was allotted really cost the Dursleys anything, Vernon was more than happy at having Harry being less of a "free-loader." Consequently, Harry had their blessing to leave the house early in the morning and to return relatively late at night; though, he still generally managed to return before his cousin did.

The reason for not needing to eat breakfast or dinner was of course the fact that Luna had taken it upon herself to make sure that Harry ate hearty meals. Each morning while Hotaru and Harry trained, she would make him a breakfast of eggs and meat and dinner was often something out of a cook book she had picked up originally as a gift for Makoto. Luna's attempts, unfortunately, were not always the best, but even still Harry appreciated the effort and after the workout that the very energetic Hotaru gave her even Luna's culinary disasters tasted quite good for the simple matter that they were filling.

On this current day, Harry had been given a very light load of chores, as his aunt was having company over and wanted him out of the house. Consequently, he was now spending the afternoon enjoying the sun in the park that he and Hotaru trained in while working on his homework, having brought his books with him when Petunia had essentially kicked him out of the house for the day. Watching Harry work on his homework, Luna momentarily stretched before curling back up in the sunny grass to rest and review the progress that Harry was making. Over the past week, she had come to realize that there were many similarities between Harry and how Hotaru was when she had first left Japan and just as it had taken her time slowly working her way through Hotaru's guilt and build up the girl's confidence in her place as a Sailor Senshi, she and Hotaru were going to have to the same with this boy. He was rife with scars from the emotional abuse that his relatives had heaped on him and then on top of that he had the guilt and fear that came from that prophecy and its consequences. Thankfully, Harry was responding positively to Hotaru's presence and already Luna could see that some of the weight had left the boy's shoulders.

While Luna enjoyed the sun and alternated between cat naps and analyzing how Harry was doing Harry talked with Hotaru, his homework forgotten. Initially upon arrival at the park he had made good progress on his homework, finishing up a couple of the essays that he had been assigned. His progress was a little slower than it might normally be, due to Hotaru frequently asking him questions on his homework. However, Harry did not mind and in explaining the concepts to Hotaru he found himself feeling that he better understood the subject and some of her questions had helped put things into new perspectives for him. However, before long Hotaru's questions moved onto to a tangent and Harry found himself talking with the young girl about something completely different than magic.

"Come on tell me about her. You fancy her don't you?" Hotaru asked in the eager voice of a preteen girl who was excited about relationships.

"I don't know who you are talking about," Harry tried to reply not wanting to think about the pleasant but unwanted dreams that he had been having since Luna had enacted that block.

"The redheaded girl; you know that one that I am talking about," Hotaru replied with a predatory smile that might have looked more at place on ChibiUsa, but that was just as appropriate for Hotaru who was a preteen after all.

Realizing that outright denial was not going to get him anywhere, Harry tried a different tact. "She is the younger sister of my best mate, Ron."

"So what's her name?" Hotaru asked pressing the interrogation.

"Ginny," Harry replied.

Any further questions, however, were thankfully, to Harry, interrupted by the arrival of an owl. Untying the rolled parchment, Harry broke the seal and began reading the letter. Upon finishing it, he reread it a second time to make sure that he had not misunderstood its contents. He was going to be getting out of here in just two nights time. He would be spending the rest of the summer, including his Birthday, at the Weasleys. This was going to be his earliest escape from his summer "imprisonment" yet. However, as he put the letter down and looked up to see the questioning eyes of Hotaru who obviously wanted to know what was in the letter, Harry realized that for once he did not want to leave. Leaving would mean leaving behind the great friends that Hotaru and Luna had become and leaving would mean having to face Ginny, the girl who for some reason was now always on his mind.

"What is it?" Hotaru asked puzzled by the emotions that crossed Harry's face as he read the letter, suggesting that it was more than just a letter from his friends or something from the school.

"It's from the headmaster. He will be here in two days time to take me to the Weasleys."

"But I thought you had to stay here for the blood wards?"

"I do, but I am not sure exactly how long I need to be here to recharge them for another year. They must need only a few weeks to charge, but why…" Harry replied, trailing off as he realized that the headmaster had been keeping him at the Dursley's longer than he needed to be. Though, why Dumbledore was letting him escape early this time, Harry was unsure.

"Don't worry about it Harry-san, you can't change the past," Hotaru said, as she laid a hand on his left arm, giving him a bit of advice that she herself had struggled with to learn so as to not be drowned in the sorrows of her own disastrous childhood.

"You're right," Harry replied, as he pushed those thoughts out of his mind. "But this means that I won't be able to see you anymore."

Smiling Hotaru replied, "I have traveled all the way from Japan to find you, don't think that you going to spend the rest of the summer with your best mate from school is going to keep me away."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked a little defensively, as her mention of traveling from so far to find him raised memories of the prophecy.

"I am not sure why. All I know is that if I want my mom to wake up that I have to find a certain energy source and you are that energy source. But I have no idea what I am supposed to do now that I have found you," Hotaru replied explaining her journey; though, as she spoke her words become more and more dejected as the futility of her quest began to weigh upon her.

Seeing Hotaru begin to collapse in upon herself with her words, Harry's nascent anger evaporated, leaving him feeling guilty over taking his frustrations out on the younger girl. Closing the gap between the two of them, he pulled Hotaru into a hug and softly said, "It's going to be okay. We'll figure out what this power of mine is together and we will get your mother back."

"Do you mean it?" Hotaru asked looking up with her eyes shining from the tears that had begun to pool in them.

"I mean it. One way or another we will get your mother back," Harry said promising himself that he would do whatever was required to help this girl who had amazingly become such a close friend of his in such a short period of time.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

PallaPalla grumbled to herself as she searched through the temple that had formally belonged to the High Priest Helios looking for any clues as to whom he may have hidden himself away in. Whereas initially this punishment hadn't been that bad, after all there had been quite a many nifty things to play with in the castle, the search had quickly lost its appeal when it dragged on for months and it did not help that Zircon seemed to be always fluttering about whenever she stumbled upon something interesting. _Why couldn't grandmother have a fun pet like a cat or a dog; instead of a tattle-telling eyeball,_ the young girl mentally grumbled to herself as she began leafing through a pile of dusty papers.

It really was unfair that she and her sisters were not allowed to go after Helios. It was not their fault that the priest got away. It was not like they could have found Helios any faster than they did, she had run full bore to where he had hidden himself away not making any wrong turns. But that had not been enough for Zirconia and so she and her sisters were punished for what PallaPalla was sure was the fault of the Amazon Trio and the Lemures. After all, she and her sisters were not part of the initial attack on the temple, it was only because the others failed that they had joined in. If anything, Zirconia should have rewarded her for at least forcing Helios to leave his body behind. But she did not. Adults were so unfair. That was something that she kept finding examples of and like her sisters, PallaPalla had no desire to grow up.

In her silent grumblings of the unfairness of the situation, PallaPalla failed to notice that she was walking too close to the table that held the papers that she still had to go through and as such she accidently knocked one of the boxes off, sending up a cloud of dust. Caught by surprise, she inhaled a lung full before she knew what was happening and began coughing in fits. With coughs racking her body, PallaPalla quickly made her way to the door and fresh air.

Standing in the hallway, she gulped down the clean air, wishing that she didn't have to go through those papers ever again. It was times like this when the desire to be a grownup would appear, as then she could stand up and tell grandma that she wasn't going to take it anymore. However, even as her the dust finished clearing out of her lungs the desire to be a grownup faded away. If she was grownup then she would never be able to play. Granma never played and even if she hadn't been allowed to play lately because of grandma's punishment, she would at least be able to play again before long and so staying young was the way.

Anyways, she and her sisters would show grandma how much better they were than the Amazon Trio when they found the Pegasus and PallaPalla knew it was only a matter of time before grandma sent them to Earth. She supposed the only reason why they hadn't been sent yet was because they were still being punished. But once they were sent to Earth, they would be able to play and those Sailor Senshi looked like such great playmates that PallaPalla couldn't wait. Therefore with her mood improved as she looked forward to the day when they would be sent to Earth, PallaPalla reentered the archive room to begin the fruitless search for the human whose Dream Mirror that Helios was hiding in.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Over the course of the few days between when Harry received his letter and the headmaster was due to arrive, Luna and Hotaru discussed their various options and eventually settled on sending Luna to the Weasley household with Harry while Hotaru, once again, followed his trail. While sending Luna on ahead added some logistical complications, both girls felt that it was the best option, as that way Luna could watch over Harry and give him some instructions, instructions that would be mostly visual with a smattering of English. Ideally, Harry would have known where in the country side his best mate lived, allowing Luna to make regular travel arrangement for Hotaru. Unfortunately, he only knew the name of the village that his friend lived near to, which had been unhelpful due to the absence of decent maps in the Dursley household and no one thinking of sending Hotaru to a library to ask a librarian for assistance. Consequently, Hotaru was going to be forced to track Harry in the same manner that she had done throughout the spring and early summer.

On the plus side, the three of them had decided to risk, after appropriate precautions, shrinking Luna's pack and placing it in Harry's trunk. Seeing said shrunken pack in his trunk as he double checked to make sure that he had everything, Harry fondly remembered that little bit rule breaking the previous night. His friend, Hermione, would be so beside herself if she knew that he had just risked being expelled. Of course she had a bit of a skewed way of looking at things given that during their first year she had placed being expelled as being a worse consequence than being killed. Remembering that incident, Harry couldn't help but to smile. His talks with Hotaru in the evening as the two of them lay in bed had helped him to look back at his adventures as adventures as opposed to things he preferred to forget. He was slowly beginning to realize that he had to roll with what fate dished out for him or otherwise he was never going to survive long enough for Voldemort to try to kill him.

Though, even if Hermione would not have approved of his action he knew of various redheads who would whole heartedly have and one in particular who probably would have wished that she had been the one to come up with the idea. Harry only wished that he could tell her about how the three of them had traveled two towns over to cast an illegal shrinking charm under the protection of Hotaru's Silence Dome and how Hotaru had then picked him up and carried him as she ran back to Little Wingding. How she had been able to do that, he still did not understand. Yeah, he had accepted that she was stronger than regular people, but that was just pushing what was believable even if he had been the one being carried. Though, to be fair she hadn't quite made it all of the way back to number 4 before her arms and legs gave out and the last quarter mile it had been him who had been the one to carry her home. As for Luna, she had remained behind to deal with any Ministry owls and then barring none she had found a nice tree to bed down for the night as a cat in before returning the next morning.

Any remembrances of the night's activities where cut off when his uncle called up, "Boy, get down here! You have a guest."

Looking over at Hotaru, he gave the young girl a smile to which he got a wink of encouragement in return. "Well I guess, I will see you when I see you."

"Don't worry Harry-san. I will find you again and if worst comes to worst, Luna and I have a method of getting messages to each other," Hotaru said reassuring Harry that things would be okay. She, however, decided not to mention that the method of communication involved sending messages to Ami back in Tokyo and hoping that the other had also contacted Ami. Needless to say it was a fall back plan to only use if it took Hotaru more than a week to find Harry. Then turning her attention to Luna, Hotaru said with a smile, "Now Luna-chan make sure to behave yourself for Harry-san."

Luna, in her feline form, replied to that comment with glare, as she wondered once again how Usagi and ChibiUsa could be rubbing off on the nice polite Hotaru with those two being on the other side of the world. Then as Harry picked her up, she snuggled into his arm and gave him a purr as a Usagi-esque comeback.

Taking one last look around the room to make sure that he had packed everything, Harry nodded his head and with Luna cradled in his left arm, he left while Hotaru, in her Senshi fuku, left through the window to wait atop the house.

"Professor," Harry politely said a few minutes later when he walked into the living room where Dumbledore was sitting in one of the chairs, patiently awaiting his arrival. "I apologize for the delay, but I was double checking to make sure that I had packed everything."

"That is alright Harry," Dumbledore said. Then taking notice of the feline in Harry's arm, he asked, "And, if I might ask, who is that that you have there?"

"Oh her, this is Luna. One of the kids from the neighborhood gave her to me earlier this summer. Her family was moving and they couldn't take Luna with them and Hotaru seemed to think that I could use a friend like Luna."

"Oh?" Dumbledore replied.

"And, I think she was right. Having Luna with me has helped me realize that it is not my fault that Sirius is dead," Harry explained, skipping the fact that it was actually hearing Hotaru's story about her birth father and adopted mother that had made him realize that he was not at fault.

"I am glad to hear that Harry," Dumbledore said, feeling his soul slightly lifted as he realized that Harry was actually dealing with his grief, or at least it looked like he was. He had not been sure as to what state he was going to find Harry in when he arrived and had been prepared to find and deal with anything ranging from a Harry that had become fully withdrawn from the world around him to one that was filled with anger and rage. While he did not want to think badly of the young man, he had more than expected to find Harry in or close to one of those two extreme states, as opposed to this seemingly normal one; though, time would tell if this was only a façade or the truth. In any case, concern of Harry's mental state was the reason why he was collecting Harry so early, waiting just long enough for the wards to recharge to the minimum degree that they needed for lasting another year as well as to make arrangements for Harry's safety at the Weasleys.

Originally before the events at the Ministry, he had planned to take Harry, once again this year, to Grimmauld Place. The protective wards and in particular the Fidelius charm, made that place the safest place that he could be outside of Hogwarts. Unfortunately, for the same reason that he was collecting Harry early that place was out. No matter how well Harry appeared to be doing, he was not going to subject the boy to a constant reminder of his godfather's death by having him stay in his godfather's house and the general overall gloomy atmosphere of the house wouldn't help either. With Grimmauld Place out and with Harry's mental state when he left school at the end of the year, there was only one place that he could send Harry, the Weasleys where he knew the love from that family would keep him from slipping away from them. Unfortunately, the Borrow had nowhere near sufficient wards and as such he had been spending this first month of the summer recess erecting the protective wards and now that they were finished it was safe for Harry to go there. Though, as Dumbledore took in how at ease Harry appeared to be, he had to wonder if the delay imposed by erecting those wards might not have been beneficial after all, as it had given him time to bond with that cat.

Unfortunately, as much as Dumbledore wanted accepted Luna at face value, as she appeared to have done a wonder with Harry, he could not afford to not be cautious. He just hoped that Harry would not take offense and so Dumbledore gently asked, "Harry, while I know that Luna has helped you a great deal I would like to cast a spell on her?"

Harry and Luna, of course, had expected this question, and so after placing Luna down on the ground, Harry replied, "I understand. 'Constant Vigilance.'"

Then having said that, Harry walked away from Luna, who was doing her best imitation of a confused cat, to stand behind the headmaster. He just hoped that Luna's assurances that she would be okay proved to be correct. He didn't know why, but something told him that as much as he looked up to the headmaster and trusted him that this was one secret that he should not share with the grandfatherly man.

Waiting until Harry was behind him, Dumbledore brought out his wand and cast a series of spells designed to reverse various human and self transfiguration spells including the internal magic used by an animagus. Each spell was cast and watched closely to see if it had any effect on the cat to see if there was any hint of a reversal to which a stunner would have immediately followed, but in each case Luna continued to sit there unaffected. Though, eventually she appeared to get bored with activities and began to clean herself much to Harry's amusement.

When he finally exhausted his repertoire of spells, Dumbledore gave a sigh of relief, he was really hoping that Luna was nothing more than an ordinary house cat or their slightly smarter magical cousins and it looked like that was case. There was now only one final test, a test that would also help him to discern if someone was using a regular cat as a way to get to Harry. That possibility was highly unlikely as it was simply not the way that Death Eaters worked, but he still had to confirm it and so Dumbledore walked over to Luna, bent over, and picked her up.

Carrying her over to the chair that he had been sitting on earlier, Dumbledore sat down and made eye contact with Luna. Instantly sensing the incursion, Luna resisted the response that her training in the mental arts had instilled in her and, instead, of actively responding to the attack she began to feed him specially selected memories. The memories were all true; though, many were composite ones with Harry or Hotaru's words from one interjected with memories of her being held. As a result, Dumbledore found himself discerning that Luna was an unusually perceptive cat that seemed to drift from one owner who needed her to another. In her memories, he could see how she had been what Usagi needed and then especially what Hotaru needed. The memories were vague enough that he never saw any inkling of Senshi activities, demons, daughters from the future, Tokyo, or Luna's high intelligence thereby preventing any red flags from being raised.

"Harry my boy it looks like you have a good friend here in Luna and I am very happy to hear that this Hotaru was kind enough to gift her to you. While I know we typically frown upon students having two pets, I am sure that we can make an exception for you."

"Thank you sir," Harry replied, relieved that Luna had apparently passed the tests and from there the two fell into discussions of his godfather's will before taking their leave.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Watching Harry, Luna, and Dumbledore step outside of the house and then vanish with a loud crack, Hotaru thought to herself _That is going to make the job of following him harder, but I can still do it._ She had been planning on just running a bit behind the headmaster's car, having not thought about the possibility that wizards would have magical means of transport. But like she had told Harry, she had tracked him here from Tokyo and she would track him to his destination again. Therefore, Hotaru settled herself back down on the roof and began to practice the meditations that Luna had taught her as she sought the pull that emanated from Harry.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Half a world away, a young woman, who at one time was to become Hotaru's adoptive mother, practiced the violin duet that she was to be performing in just over a week's time with Satome-san. By now both she and her partner for the evening had mastered their respective parts and they just had to finish perfecting how they interleaved their playing with each so that the two melodies danced in perfect harmony. Consequently, her personal practice this morning would be no where has beneficial as their joint session this afternoon, but even still Michiru ran through the piece imagining how Satome-san would perform his part and reacting accordingly.

When she finished the three movements twenty minutes later, it was to the sound of someone clapping. Lowering her instrument, Michiru turned to find Haruka leaning against the door frame.

"That was beautiful," the blonde said.

"Thank you," Michiru replied with slight brush as she walked over to put away her instrument.

"I am sure that the others will all be thrilled to hear your performance."

"I just wished that the princess would be able to hear it as well."

"I know love, I know," Haruka replied as she walked up and embraced her partner.

"I had just hoped that she would be awake now. I know that it was a foolish wish; that there was no way to expect it to come true. But even still, I prayed that it would be the case each time I practiced."

"You are right, it was a foolish wish, a wish of the type that the princess would make," Haruka replied, making Michiru cringe slightly at the recrimination. However, as soon as Michiru cringed, Haruka momentarily tightened the embrace before continuing with, "But yet we have seen what the princess can do, how she can make her wishes reality and therefore we just need to continue believing that she will return to us."

"Arigato," Michiru said with a smile no longer feeling bad about having hoped that Usagi would have awoken in time for the performance.

"Now let's see about getting you something to eat before it is time for you to head over to meet with Satome-san."

"Hai," Michiru replied and with that the two of them walked out of what was their practice room and headed for the dining room were the meal that Haruka had prepared lay waiting.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

That night, unnoticed by all except for a few amateur astronomers, a shooting star impacted on the outskirts of Tokyo. This was, however, no normal shooting star as what landed was not a meteorite but a Sailor Senshi. Regaining her physical body, Sailor Iron Mouse inhaled the fresh sea breeze as she took in her first looks of the world that she had just landed on. _Hmm… Kind of primitive,_ she thought to herself as she took in Earth's current technology level. _Galaxia probably will only let me stay here for a little while before she has me move on,_ Iron Mouse dejectedly thought. She had only just been commissioned as one of Galaxia's Animates and was very much looking to being able to cause whole scale destruction and she thought that she had gotten her opportunity when Galaxia had recently started sending them all out to separate worlds. Normally she would have been second fiddle to a more senior Animate, but Galaxia had apparently decided to change her war strategy.

Unfortunately, for Sailor Iron Mouse the opportunity to go solo did not translate into exactly what she was looking for. Instead of getting to raze the worlds she visited, she got to barely cause any damage before Galaxia ordered her to move on. She was not sure what she was supposed to be looking for only that Galaxia was very interested in getting it and if the rumor mill was to be believed that something had apparently spooked their leader. However, Iron Mouse doubted that last bit. There was nothing that could stand up to Galaxia. Teams of the strongest Star Children paled in comparison to her power.

"Guess I will just have to have as much fun as I can before I am sent searching again." Iron Mouse said aloud to herself before cloaking herself in disguise and moving out into the city as the first rays of dawn began to crest the horizon.

-End Chapter


	11. Chapter 10: Movement

The Fragility of Time Book Three: "Stardust Memories"  
**Chapter 10 - Movement**  
Author: etj4Eagle  
Posted 10/9/08  
Edited 10/12/08

Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story, all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only so freely and inform me of where you post it.

* * *

Continuing the quest that she had begun some days earlier, Fighter walked the streets of Tokyo searching for the child warrior of the Moon, the warrior who her sisters wanted her to somehow befriend and to train. With a little bit of luck, she would be able to make the young child into a halfway decent soldier before Galaxia's minions descended on the planet. However, before she could train the girl, she had to find her and that was proving to be a far from easy task. Unlike the planets of the Star Alliance, the Star Children here on this planet hid themselves amongst the general population. Thankfully her sister had been able to provide her with a vague description of the disguise that the Moon child was using; Fighter just hoped that the child did not rotate her glamour before she was able to find her.

In thinking about the Senshi of this system there were quite a few things that continued to confuse Fighter, and prominent amongst that list was why the Senshi were hiding their identities as well as why they had only apparently become active in the past year. As far as Fighter could remember from her lessons, a Senshi was active from the moment of their birth, which meant that there had to have been a consorted effort to locate the Senshi when they were born and to hide them away from the general population. She guessed that might explain why the Senshi of this system seemed to be so weak, if their true natures were hidden from even them. But why their princess would want to do that to them, Fighter had no idea.

The strangeness of the situation did, though, give Fighter a possible route for locating Sailor Moon, and that was to assume that she was still pretending to be a regular human child. Based on that line of thought, Fighter was checking out the various elementary schools that were reasonably close to the area in which the demon attacks had occurred. Of course, there wasn't any real reason to assume that she did in fact attend a school near to the hot area as opposed to one farther away, but Fighter figured she would start with those schools and then move outward.

As Fighter pushed aside her confusing, she turned onto the road on which lay her forth school for the day. Once she got near the school, Fighter slipped into an ally where she let her glamour drop before hopping up onto the roofs to complete the final few dozen meters of her journey. Stopping on the roof of a store that was diagonally across from the school, Fighter crouched down and began to plan out her attack. Like most of the schools that she had visited, this one was located in the middle of a relatively open space that was bordered by high walls. This design made it quite difficult for her to check out the school without being seen, and thereby limiting her to only being able to search for Sailor Moon while the students were arriving, eating lunch, or leaving and even then she was sure that she was missing a sizeable number of them. Unfortunately, she had yet to come up with a better idea and she so just had to hope that she would luck out one of these times.

Twenty minutes later when she heard the final bell of the day ring, Fighter moved to a spot that would give the best vantage point of the students as they passed through the main gate and into the street. This was at least one area where the high walls came in handy as the students all funneled out through a single choke point. Carefully examining the children as they began to leave, Fighter's eyes caught sight of a distinctive head of hair. Even without Maker's description of what the Moon warrior's civilian disguise looked like, Fighter could see the similarities of the very pink strawberry blond hair in both color and hair style to that of Sailor Moon.

Dropping down to the ground, Fighter re-applied her own civilian disguise before discreetly making her way into the crowd of students and weaving her way over to her target. Once she was close enough to make out some of the facial features of the girl, Fighter had to admit that the child was quite good with her glamour magic. However, armed as she was with a description of the Moon warrior's civilian disguise, Fighter knew that this girl was indeed her target and as she approached she was able to make out further similarities to that of Sailor Moon as dissimilarities that were there a moment ago disappeared, the effect of having broken the glamour magic.

Now just a few paces behind the young warrior, Fighter saw an older redheaded girl meet up with her target and strike up a conversation as the two of girls resumed walking. Slowing her pace for a moment, Fighter considered whether she should fall back and wait for another opportunity to approach Sailor Moon. _No we do not have time to waste; there is no telling how long we have till Galaxia finds this planet. We cannot afford to waste even a single day._ Fighter thought to herself as she decided to go ahead with initiating contact. Though, in deference to the Sailor Senshi of this system's desire to hide themselves, she would be discreet in her choice of words.

"Excuse me," Fighter said as she reached ChibiUsa.

Looking up from her conversation with Naru, ChibiUsa found an unfamiliar woman beside her. "Hai?"

"You met one of my sisters a week ago and she was impressed by your skills."

"Huh?" ChibiUsa replied, not understanding what the woman was referring to.

Naru, for her part, felt somewhat uneasy about the way this conversation was going. While the streets of Tokyo were for the most part quite safe for children to be out and about by themselves, one still had to be careful and this stranger's words were setting off alarm bells in her mind. Worried that she might be trying to entice ChibiUsa, Naru stepped in front of her "little sister" and firmly said, "I am not sure what you are getting at, but I ask you to leave my friend alone."

Turning her attention to the redhead, Fighter's jaw momentarily dropped as she got a good look at the girl. "Osaka Naru."

Her brows furrowing at this development, Naru replied, "Hai, that is my name." _How does this woman know my name? I am sure that I haven't seen her before, but she recognizes me._

_Just my luck, the young Moon warrior just happens to be in the company of the bait that we have been using._ Fighter thought to herself as she realized that the situation had just become complicated. "I apologize for the actions of my sisters and myself towards you in the past Osaka Naru-san. I assure you that I do not mean any ill will to you or your bodyguard. I merely wish to talk with your bodyguard about providing her with additional training. The two of you may even choose the location for our discussions."

"Wha...?" Naru said as she tried to process what this woman was saying. _My bodyguard? But there is only ChibiUsa here, 'my little sister.' Does she mean one of the Senshi? I don't think that any of them has been tailing me…_ Naru thought to herself as she began to look up at the skyline, trying to discern the presence of one of others.

"You need not worry; it is only myself who is here. My sisters are working their day jobs," Fighter explained, mistaking Naru's search for the other Senshi of the system as searching for Fighter's sisters.

_'Her sisters? But that is not what I am looking for.'_

"Now Moon-san, if you would please."

"Me?" ChibiUsa asked.

"Hai, now is there a place that you would like to hold our discussions at? I even have some money, if you would like to get an after school treat."

"Hai!" ChibiUsa replied at the mention of free food.

"Lead the way then." Fighter replied and in response, ChibiUsa began walking towards the Crown Fruit Parlor while pulling a bewildered Naru behind her. For her part, Naru was only now just realizing that the bodyguard that this woman was referring to was ChibiUsa, which was something that she had a hard time wrapping her mind around. She, after all, saw herself as the one looking out for the eight year old, not the other way around.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Entering the Crown Fruit Parlor, Naru along with ChibiChibi, who had somehow met them at the entrance to the arcade, ChibiUsa, and Fighter made their way to one of the booths towards the back of the restaurant. As she walked past the other tables, Naru absently noted that there were not many other patrons here this afternoon. Normally the restaurant would be packed right now with various middle and high school kids hanging out before heading home or off to cram school. However, over the past few weeks she had noticed that the Crown and many other places were not having the draws that they once did – a consequence of the demon attacks. While normally seeing the low attendance here and the arcade sadden her given her friendship with Motoki and his sister, today Naru was slightly glad that there weren't many people present as that meant that there were fewer bystanders if this turned out to be a trap.

Arriving at the booth, Naru gestured to ChibiUsa and ChibiChibi to take a seat on one side of the table before joining Fighter on the other side of the table. Sitting down, Naru tried her best to keep her fear under control; however, it was difficult as she kept remembering the times that Fighter and the other two had taken her hostage and threatened to kill her. But as much as Naru wanted to be someplace else, she not going to leave her "little sister" along with this woman and neither was she going to let ChibiUsa sit next to her either.

"Okay, we are here, now what did you want," Naru asked a little harshly once their drink orders were taken.

"I know that you have no reason to trust me, Moon-san," Fighter began, addressing ChibiUsa as opposed to Naru. "Our methods made not have been the most pleasant, but there is a great evil approaching your planet and as you are now, you will not pose any kind of resistance to that evil."

"Galaxia," ChibiUsa whispered in understanding.

"You know of her?" Fighter asked in surprise. "Though, I guess that outsider who has been training you has told you about her?"

"Hai, Sailor Erion warned us about Galaxia," Naru said trying to pull the focus of the conversation away from ChibiUsa.

Looking at Naru in an almost amused way, Fighter wondered what type of connection this redhead had to the Senshi of this system. Maybe she had been assigned as the nanny to the child Senshi and did not realize that her charge had now surpassed her? She herself had to struggle with the same change in status with her beloved princess in which she had to change from being the one to raise her princess to following the orders of her princess. "I understand what you are feeling Osaka-san," Fighter said deciding to help the girl adjust to the changes that had come to her charge. "I am sure that you have done a good job in raising Moon-san, and her strength on the battlefield is a testament to how you have raised her. However, she is no longer a child, but an adult."

"An adult," Naru loudly whispered, barely remembering to keep her voice down. On the other side of the table, ChibiUsa was equally surprised.

"Yes that is correct, now that she is fighting as a full fledge Sailor Senshi she would be considered an adult within the nations of the Star Alliance that is if Galaxia hadn't destroyed it."

Hearing those words gave ChibiUsa a bittersweet feeling. For the longest time her greatest desire had been to be seen as a full fledge lady, like her mother, and now here she was being told that she was an adult, even if she did not have her adult height. But as happy as reaching her dream made her feel, she felt even more sad for the terrible mistakes that she had made in the past, mistakes that had allowed the Dark Moon Family to breach the defenses of the palace and to wound her mother, mistakes that had transformed her into an evil parody of herself, and even more it brought up fresh longing for her mother, the Usagi of this time, so as to be able to share with her the good news.

"I know that this is not what you were looking for me to talk to me about," ChibiUsa said as she pushed her feelings aside and did her best to make use of lessons on being a princess.

"You are right Moon-san."

"Call me ChibiUsa-chan please," ChibiUsa said knowing that it would not be long before one of the regular waitress staff began to wonder why she was being called Moon."

"ChibiUsa," Naru said.

"It is okay, she knows anyways," the pink haired girl replied, pushing aside Naru's concern.

"In that case, you should call me Seiya; it is a name that I have been using to earn some money." Fighter said, realizing that the Moon warrior wanted to maintain her cover and mentally kicking herself for not suggesting the move to aliases earlier, after all she had figured that this was the case.

"Hai, Seiya-san."

"Now as for why I asked to speak with you, my sisters and I were impressed with your skills and unlike the others we believe that you have the potential to be a strong Senshi. The others, except for the one in blue, are too soft and should be far beyond where they currently are."

"If they are so far behind, why don't you train them as well? Why have you been attacking them?" Naru asked

"Those attacks are training. We don't have the time to train them to defend against Galaxia's hoards. All we can hope is that if we push them enough that the memories of their Stars will awaken momentary and give them a skill that would otherwise have taken them decades of regular training to obtain."

"But that is…" Naru began.

"Cruel. I know, but it is the only hope for your planet. Your extra-solar friend may have told you about the evil that is sweeping across the Galaxia, but being told is different from experiencing it. I should know, I thought I was prepared for it, but then being sent to search a fallen world for survivors showed me how naïve I was. Galaxia would think nothing of using her power to steal and control souls forcing families to watch helplessly as one of their own butchers the others. She is an evil incarnate of the type that the galaxy has never seen before."

"I understand," ChibiUsa, with her crescent moon faintly glowing said, "and I forgive you for what you have done and will do."

"Demo, your mother wouldn't…" Naru began, not believing that ChibiUsa was going to give this person a pass for what she had done.

"Mother, chibi," ChibiChibi said adding some seemingly meaningless gibber as she moved from just holding ChibiUsa's hand to clambering up onto the older girl's lap. Making herself comfortable in ChibiUsa's lap, she quickly fell asleep as now the full and still unnoticed sigil on ChibiUsa's forehead began to glow more brightly.

"ChibiChibi is right. Okaa-san would not agree, but she would understand as that is how she became…" ChibiUsa replied again with a maturity that was not quite right for her effective age, before trailing off as the pain of her loss became too much for her.

"You mother, she was the Senshi who sacrificed herself?" Fighter said, beginning to see some more of the pattern, but yet at the same time even more confused. She had never heard of a mother and daughter being Sailor Senshi before. Maybe, somehow, this girl's mother had found a way to pass her powers on to her daughter. Fighter had no idea how that could be the case and once more wished that her princess was here to make things clearer, a desire that was for some reason strengthened by being in the presence of this child warrior.

"Hai, she was," ChibiUsa chocked out.

"Then let me train you so that you can make her proud and allow you to full fill the legacy that she left for you."

"I accept, but you will train Mercury as well."

"I already said that it would be a waste of time to train the others."

"She is the one in blue," ChibiUsa added in explanation

"In that case she may be worth training," Fighter conceded.

Smiling at being able to train with Ami, ChibiUsa dove heartily into her quite large Sunday that had just arrived. Ami had been the one to save her life during the attack in the park, a feat that she had done without her Senshi powers and that made the genius quite special in her book. Also out of all of the Senshi, Ami was the first one to fight beside her mother and now having the chance to be in the same position as her mother had been made ChibiUsa quite happy.

"One question, though," Naru said, speaking up, and then upon getting a nod from Fighter, she asked, "How did you know where to find ChibiUsa-chan."

"I didn't. All I had from my sister was her description. I have been staking out the various schools in the area all week looking for her."

"You are quite lucky then," Naru said in reply.

"What do you mean?"

"Today was the last day of class before summer vacation; school won't be back in session till the end of the month."

Hearing that, Fighter said a quick prayer of thanks to the soul of the Cosmos. If she had chosen a different school this afternoon she could have lost a month or more of training time. Even luckier, not that she realized it, was that originally ChibiUsa was supposed to be staying afterschool today for cleaning duty, which was where Diana currently was. The only reason why she hadn't was because one of her classmates who had cleaning duty the day before had something come up at the last minute and ChibiUsa had offered to swap with her classmate.

"Summer vacation, does that mean that you won't have other demands on your time?" Fighter asked. While vacation was not something that Sailor Senshi got to experience either in training or in the line of duty, it was a concept she was vaguely familiar with from listening to the happenings at the palace.

"That is mostly correct. Outside of training with the rest of the Senshi and her lessons with Haruna-sensei, she doesn't have anything fixed on her schedule."

"What kind of lessons?" Fighter asked, not seeing the training with the other Senshi as being worthwhile given their current pathetic state of readiness.

"Diplomacy and world affairs," Naru replied, deciding to keep quiet on the fact that ChibiUsa was the Moon Princess. While it was very likely that this other Senshi already knew all of that there was no reason to let her know just how important ChibiUsa was to them all if that was not the case.

_Hmmm… I did not expect that, but still that means that I will be able to train her for most of the day and given her age she will likely need some time to rest anyways. I wonder why, though, they are training one of their soldiers in diplomacy at such a young age._ Fighter thought to herself, not having been trained in much outside of fighting till see was in her mid-twenties. _Though with the fractured nation-states that this world has, maybe the holder of the covenant crystal felt she needed her warriors to also act as ambassadors._ Fighter thought a moment later. Putting aside the strangeness of the Moon Warrior's other set of training, Fighter turned her attention back to the situation at hand. All in all things were working out quite nicely for her. She had expected that she would need to convince this child to devote the large amounts of time that the training was going to be required. Pretending to be a civilian and attending school was just not really an option. However, with the fortuitous timing of the break that conversation could be put off for a few days and with any luck the young warrior might even come to the realization on her own. Now turning her attention to the other warrior that she was going to be training, Fighter asked, "And, how about the blue one?"

Seeing ChibiUsa's nod out of the corner of her eye, Naru replied, "Ami-chan no longer attends school like the rest of us. She works during the day and I believe that she is being trained by the military personnel where she works."

Nodding her understanding, Fighter thought for a few moments. The blue warrior obviously was taking her duty seriously and while she was not sure how much benefit the local military would be, she was less than impressed with their current state of weapon development, especially the lack of anything deployable in space, she figured that it was still for the best to maintain coordination with the planet's military. "In that case we will work her in around her schedule, but you will be training from sunrise to sunset."

Hearing those words, ChibiUsa gulped as suddenly the whole idea of getting special training with Ami-chan didn't seem like such a hot idea. Even though she wasn't able to spend her summer with Hotaru-chan liked she really wanted to more than all but one thing (getting her mother back), she was still hoping to be able to have fun. She wanted to be able to go visit the beaches, to break watermelons open with bats, and to stay up late collecting fireflies.

_Well if this is going to be summer…_ ChibiUsa thought to herself as she looked across the table at Naru, and then coming to a decision she suddenly reached out and snagged Naru's half eaten ice-cream treat. If she was about to face grueling training, then she was going to make the most of her last meal.

"Hey!" Naru exclaimed in response to ChibiUsa's theft of her Sunday.

"Chibi!" ChibiChibi said, giving her approval to ChibiUsa's actions and alerting everyone to the fact that she was once again awake.

"How can she eat all of that?" Fighter asked in awe as she watched ChibiUsa begin to rapidly make a dent in her second desert and having just been amazed by ChibiUsa's ability to finish her own original Sunday.

"She is a Usagi," Naru replied as if that explained everything.

However, as Fighter translated Usagi into rabbit that did not clear anything up and just left her even more confused.

Seeing the confusion on Fighter's face, Naru explained further. "ChibiUsa is just her nickname. Her actual name is Usagi, which is the same name as her mother, and her mother could easily polish off a Sunday twice the size as the one that ChibiUsa had in half the time and then thirty minutes later being complaining about being hungry."

_Rabbit that is a strange name to give one's child, but maybe it is a common name here. I know some of the names on our own planet, such as Shooting Star and Rings of Hope, probably would seem a bit strange to outsiders._ Putting aside the weird names, Fighter gave thought to the fact that the Moon Star and her mother both apparently had large appetites, something that Senshi were not known for. However, as she thought about that oddity some more she remembered something from her lessons – in that one way to identify a mage was by their very large appetites, as their bodies expanded vast amounts of internal energy in controlling and shaping the magical energies that they wielded. Could it be that the Moon warrior and her mother were also mages? Might that be how the power of a Senshi had been passed from mother to daughter, breaking all the rules for how Star Children worked? Those were thoughts that she would have to bring up with her sisters, but for now she would just concentrate and enjoying her chocolate brownie Sunday, quite happy with the choice that ChibiUsa had made for her and equally glad that the Moon warrior had not raided her own desert.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"I am so glad that it is finally vacation," Minako said that evening as she plopped herself down on the floor in the Tsukino living room, causing Ami to momentarily grimace and Rei to elbow the blond in the ribs. "What was that for?" Minako asked Rei in response.

Rei simply nodded her head over to the young genius who had been essentially kicked out of school.

"Oh, sorry Ami-chan. I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay, Minako-chan. I know you are happy about being on break and I am happy for you. Anyways I am finding what I am doing to be much more enjoyable than going to school."

Understanding the unsaid qualifier in Ami's response, Rei, who was sitting between Ami and Minako, reached out and grabbed a hold of her friend's hand. Ami might enjoy the intellectual challenge of what she was doing now and she was sure that her friend was happy to be improving her Senshi abilities; however, Rei also knew that Ami was missing being with her friends. Many days now it was only herself and Urawa-kun who saw Ami and now they were all were about to go and have fun, all of them that is expect for Ami. Making a decision then, Rei promised herself that she would make sure that Ami got to join in with them on at least some of their summer adventures.

"Since things have been quite since the demon attack two days ago, why don't we begin discussing our summer plans?" Minako suggested.

"Ano, there is something Senshi related that I need to tell you all about first," ChibiUsa tentatively said.

Given that ChibiUsa rarely spoke in any manner but quite forcibly except to her mother and now Naru in private when she had done something wrong, her tentative words quickly grabbed the attention of all of the girls, one young man, and two cats.

"What is it ChibiUsa-chan?" Erion asked.

"Well you see…" ChibiUsa began before trailing off.

Knowing what her little sister needed, Naru quickly scooted over to the pink- haired girl and pulled her into her lap and gave her a little squeeze. Now reassured, ChibiUsa continued, "I met with Sailor Fighter this afternoon after school."

"Nani!" the others all exclaimed.

"Did she hurt you? If she laid one finger I will…" Haruka said vocalizing feelings that were being felt by everyone else.

"Iie!" ChibiUsa forcibly shouted. "She just wanted to talk."

"How did she find you?" Ami asked with an unsettled feeling in her stomach.

"She knew what I look like when I am not Sailor Moon."

"This is not good," Michiru said.

"We are going to need to watch out over ChibiUsa-chan in case they try something." Minako said more to herself than the others as she began to consider what this breach of security meant, quite worried that those three could now target both ChibiUsa and Naru.

Hearing Minako's words, Naru internally smirked over how Fighter apparently considered ChibiUsa to be far better than any of the others except for Ami and Erion. "I don't think we need to worry about that." Naru said, deciding to help ChibiUsa out. She might not like the idea of trusting those three warriors train ChibiUsa, but ChibiUsa was right, Usagi would agree and Naru trusted her best friend. If Usagi told her to jump off a bridge she would, she trusted Usagi with her life.

"What do you mean?" Erion asked. She had for a while been quite puzzled by the actions of the three other outsiders. They were not acting at all the way that Star Children were supposed to act. That meant that either they were not real Star Children or that something was causing them to act in manner that was contrary to their very nature. She was sure that the three were Star Children, which then meant that there had to be a reason for the way that those three were acting and that furthermore it was very likely that at least some of their actions were just a façade.

"Sailor Fighter, she apologized for what she has put me through, it was supposed to be training for the rest of you."

"Training, she's crazy. You don't just take someone hostage and threaten to kill them and call that training." Makoto angrily replied.

"Hai, I agree. But she seemed desperate."

"Desperate, why?" Erion asked, realizing that the missing piece of the puzzle might finally be revealed.

"Galaxia," was Naru's reply.

Saying that word brought an instant silence to the room that lasted two whole minutes. "But we already know about her," Rei said breaking the silence.

"Yeah that is the reason why we are training as much as we are," Minako added.

Realizing something, Ami "Erion-san, when Galaxia attacks there are no true battle lines are there?" confusing the others with her line of questioning.

"That is correct," Erion replied having an idea of where Ami might be going with her questions, for she had already reached that destination herself.

"In that case it is not possible for the Sailor Senshi of allied worlds to support each other for if they were to do so they would leave their own world vulnerable."

"That is correct."

"And there are never any survivors from a world that Galaxia attacks are there?"

"There have been some. But never a Star Child, at least not ones that have not been reanimated by Galaxia as her slaves."

"So if those three are here then their own home planet is currently defenseless?" Minako asked, finally making the connection.

"That is correct. For one reason or another they must believe that there is a way to stop Galaxia on this world. But in doing so they are sacrificing their own home planet." Erion replied.

Deciding that now might be a good time to explain what Sailor Fighter had wanted with ChibiUsa, Naru said, "The reason why Sailor Fighter sought ChibiUsa-chan out after school today was to offer to train her. She wants to take on the full responsibility of training ChibiUsa-chan."

"That is out of the question!" Haruka forcibly stated.

"How do we know that this is not just an attempt to get ChibiUsa alone?" Rei suggested as the meeting degenerated into complaints over how this was a horrible idea and how they could not trust Fighter, Maker, or Healer.

"Minna-san…" ChibiUsa said a few moments later in an attempt to end the yelling; however, no one paid her any attention.

Getting no response from her attempt to bring the meeting back on track and with everyone saying how bad they thought the idea that she had agreed to was, ChibiUsa began to feel her confidence in her decision to let Sailor Fighter train her evaporate. Coming into meeting she had been nervous and had not really wanted to tell the others about her meeting with Sailor Fighter. However, she knew her onee-chan was right in saying that she had to tell the others. But now with her fears confirmed she wanted to be anywhere but here, she needed to get away from what was obviously a horrible mistake she had made.

Feeling ChibiUsa's body begin to shake, Naru realized that the young girl was close to tears. Turning ChibiUsa around in her lap, she leaned her head down so that her forehead was resting on ChibiUsa's. "Shh… It's okay. You did not do anything wrong. They are not upset at you." Naru softly said, trying to stave off ChibiUsa's tears.

Hearing Naru's words, ChibiUsa looked up at Naru, her eyes plainly conveying the need for reassurance. Unfortunately, the proclamation from one of the girls that ChibiUsa didn't know what she was doing, as she was just a kid after all, proved to be too much, and with a lurch she threw herself against Naru's chest, now freely crying.

Generally Naru stayed silent during the various meetings, not feeling it to be her place to say anything as she after all was not one of the fighters. The only reason why she attended them in the first place was because ChibiUsa did and her young charge often wanted to discuss the happenings afterwards with her and Diana, in some ways making her an informal advisor to the young princess. This time, however, Naru could not keep her silence.

"SILENCE!" Naru yelled, instantly getting everyone's attention and even drawing Ikuko who had been working in the kitchen into the room. "I can't believe you!" Naru continued yelling as she looked around the keeping catching everyone's eyes and sharply looking at them. The only ones who did not get that silent rebuke from Naru were Artemis, Diana, Erion, Ikuko, and to a lesser extent Ami.

"If Sailor Fighter was truly interested in harming ChibiUsa, she had the perfect opportunity while we were alone with her earlier today," Naru continued.

"She…" Haruka began in an attempt to say that ChibiUsa should never have gone off with Fighter in the first place.

"We did not have an option. Sailor Fighter found her as she was leaving school and when have they been concerned about other bystanders in making their move. The simple fact that she asked ChibiUsa to talk with her as opposed to fighting and did not out ChibiUsa in the request either should speak to their intentions.

"Now you have all agreed with ChibiUsa's desire for me to be her big sister and that therefore in the absence of Usagi, I am the one with the authority to raise her. Therefore listen closely; my imouto will be getting training from Sailor Fighter starting tomorrow morning. Now I am going to take ChibiUsa up to her room to calm her down, and when I return we are going to calmly talk about her training as well as Sailor Fighter's offer to train Ami as well," Naru said before abruptly standing and briskly leaving the room, very clearly agitated.

Hearing Naru's words, Mamoru felt like a heel for not having been the one to come to the defense of his daughter. He might not have the time to be there for her like he wanted to be with his studies and as a result he may have effectively delegated all of his responsibilities for his daughter to Naru, but even still he should have at least stood up for her instead of joining in with the others in condemning her decision. At minimum he should have given her a chance to explain her reasons.

Wanting to make up for what his mistake, Mamoru began to move to get up so as to follow Naru on upstairs. However, a glare from Ikuko before the older woman went up the stairs herself killed that idea. Sitting back down, Mamoru knew that he was in for a dressing down this evening, and as much as he wanted to complain that he had every right as ChibiUsa's father to go up stairs and to see her, he knew that Ikuko was right in keeping him down here. His words had to have hurt ChibiUsa, and seeing him now would only hurt her more. He would need to wait for Naru to reassure his daughter before he could apologize. Though in the meantime there was a way that he could begin to make up for his foolishness."

"Minna-san, I think that we need to honestly consider this Sailor Fighter's offer to train ChibiUsa," Mamoru said moving the debate onto a more productive tract and earning himself a little bit of approval from Erion and Artemis.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Even though this summer was turning out to be far better than any of his previous ones, Harry was still very happy to be leaving his relatives and to be heading off to the Weasleys for the rest of the summer. He just hoped that Hotaru would be able to find her way. She claimed that she had been following his energy presence all of the way across Europe and Asia and that therefore finding him at the Weasleys would be no effort for her. Harry, however, was not fully convinced that he was really the one that she had been searching for. Part of him felt that he just conveniently met enough criteria for her to claim that her journey was at an end; she, after all, had admitted that she did not know what she was searching for. Also this time she would not be searching with her feline companion, a girl who appeared to look and have the maturity of someone in their early twenties, and while Harry did understand that she was a warrior, he had the bruises to attest to that, she was not even a first year and Harry still felt a bit protective of the girl, a new feeling to him.

His thoughts were so focused on what might happen to Hotaru that he had barely paid attention to the errand that Professor Dumbledore had to run before taking him to the Weasleys. If asked to describe the potbellied professor emeritus that they had visited, Harry would have look at the questioner with a confused expression, not even recalling that he had not gone directly from the Dursleys to the Weasleys.

Luna, on the other hand, had paid close attention, set on alert by this unexpected detour. Given the grave danger that Harry was supposedly in, it did not make sense to her for the headmaster to make a stop along the way. Sitting on Harry's lap as the headmaster and the professor emeritus spoke, Luna very quickly recognized why Harry had been brought along, and it did not make her happy. From her time in Serenity's court she had very quickly learned to recognize the various ways that people collected and wielded influence and this person that they were visiting was obviously a master of this art.

To Luna's relief Harry was too lost in his thoughts over the recent changes to his life to be ensnared during the visit, giving only perfunctory answers when asked questions. However, that only helped him this time and if Luna's suspicions were correct, Harry was going to be seeing a lot of this person when he returned to school. _'Well I guess I will be continuing my lessons on politics.'_ Luna thought to herself once they finally left, realizing that just as Usagi needed to learn the ins and outs of being a princess, Harry was going to learn similar skills if he was to survive in a world that saw him as a celebrity. Thinking about what Harry was likely to face, especially if he fulfilled this prophecy, Luna decided that she would begin Harry's training in the morning, this conveniently being something that they could work on while they awaited the arrival of Hotaru. However, there was one complication that Luna failed to take into account as she began to make her plans, a complication that would delay her lessons for a while, and that was the fact that she barely spoke English and that Harry did not speak any Japanese.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Ginny Weasley was enjoying a wonderful slumber when an unknown sensation began to pull her back awake. Trying to ignore the sensation, she snuggled deeper into her blankets and attempted to return to sleep but sleep did not come. Instead, she found herself becoming even more awake. For a moment she wondered if the twins had anything to do with her sleeplessness, but when she didn't feel anything else happen she dismissed them as being the cause. This was too simple for their pranks. Now sitting up in her bed she looked down at her forearm at the brand of her bonding with her guardian and wondered if it had anything to do with why she couldn't sleep.

"You are sensing your mate's presence," her guardian snake said as it lifted itself up from where it had been sleeping beside her pillow.

"My mate?"

"Yes the Son of the Lion, the one that you have claimed as your own."

Now realizing who and what her guardian was insinuating, Ginny began to blush and said, "We aren't mates yet. Yes I want Harry and I will find a way through his thick skull, but that is the future."

"His blood has already mingled with yours and you have claimed him as your own, therefore he is your mate and your powers let you protect your mate. Later once your blood has mingled with his and he has claimed you, then you will be his mate."

"Huh?" a confused Ginny replied sure that being mates was a two way street type deal, you couldn't really be married to someone but they not be married to you.

However, it appeared that her guardian had finished with all of the guidance that he was going to dispense for now for he failed to acknowledge Ginny's question and simply slithered over to where the redhead's arm was resting on the bed and slipped up her arm and under her sleeve.

_'Wait if I am sensing Harry, then that must mean he is close!'_ Ginny realized as her inability to sleep vanished from her mind and she found energy bubbling through her. Now getting fully out of bed, she walked over to her chair and picked up the robe that she had been wearing earlier in the day and slipped it on. Then picking up her wand from her desk, she absently twirled up her hair and inserted her wand, using it to hold her hair up in place, unconsciously doing something that was more adapt for her friend Luna to do. Her hair was a bit of a mess from having just woken up and if she was going to wear it as was normal she would need to give it a good brushing first, but she did not want to wait a moment before seeing Harry either to brush it or to hunt for any of her hair items and so she had simply improvised.

Leaving her room, Ginny headed down the stairs, arriving at their base just in time to watch her mother open the door so as to let in Harry and Professor Dumbledore. Breaking out into a smile when she caught Harry's tired eyes, she said, "Harry."

However before Harry could respond, Molly Weasley turned on her youngest daughter, and said, "Young lady what are you doing out of bed?"

"Harry is here," was Ginny's simple reply. Then turning to the after mentioned house guest, Ginny closed the gap between the two of them and taking Harry's hand said, "Now come along Harry," as she pulled him to the stairs.

Professor Dumbledore, as was his habit, watched this little bit of drama play out with twinkles of merriment in his eyes. If it were not for Molly standing there with him he would have even chuckled at how the young Ms. Weasley had just taken control of the situation. This year was looking to be an interesting one, one that he had been hoping for since the middle of Harry's forth year. Love was what Harry was going to need to defeat Voldemort and only a companion with fire like that which ran in Weasley blood would have what it took to get through to Harry and from the looks of it, it looked like Ms. Weasley had finally decided that she had had enough waiting.

"I must apologize for that scene. I will talk to Ginny in the morning about her behavior," Molly said.

"It is quite alright Molly. Young love is quite a wonderful thing, and with the dark times ahead it is something that we should encourage wherever possible."

Molly nodded her understanding to what Dumbledore was saying, but she was not sure if was she was seeing was really love. Her daughter was not quite the same daughter as from before that snake had arrived. "There is something else..." Molly finally began as she decided that Dumbledore needed to be aware of the changes to her daughter and especially her daughter now claiming to be the heir of Slytherin.

While Dumbledore and Mrs. Weasley talked, Ginny led Harry on up the stairs. Arriving at the landing for her room, she was momentarily tempted to take him into her room. He was after all her mate, something that she had realized to be undeniably true the moment that she had grabbed a hold of his arm. However, she was not yet ready to confront her mother on Harry quite yet, even if all she wanted to do was snuggle into Harry's arms as she slept. Plus she did not want to break him and he did look a bit confused by her leading him up the stairs and even more by why they were paused in front of her room. Anyways, she still had a month of summer vacation left to reach that point, and so with happy smile she continued their accent up the stairs to Ron's landing.

Stopping in front of the door, Ginny said, "It is good to see you again Harry. I hope that those muggles haven't been too bad to you and in the morning you will need to introduce me to your new friend," Ginny said with the last bit referring to Luna who was contently riding on Harry's shoulder. Then deciding for a little impish fun, Ginny closed the gap between herself and Harry and then lifting herself onto her toes she placed a quick, but strong kiss on Harry's lips before turning and confidently walking away. _'While I don't want to break him, breaking him in is another matter entirely.'_ Ginny thought to herself as she returned to her room and quickly fell asleep with a smile on her face.

For his part, Harry stood rooted there for a good five minutes before the tightening of Luna's claws on his shoulder broke him out of his stupor. Then blushing heavily, Harry headed on into his best mate's room and to the camp bed that he used when he visited. Leaping off of Harry and to a dresser, Luna watched Harry go about getting himself ready for sleep in a fairly ineffective manner. Seeing the boy's love caused bumbling Luna could only smile as she thought about how it looked like Harry had finally had found someone who would give him the unconditional love that he deserved. However, as happy as she was for Harry, that girl Ginny concerned her. For some reason she had been able to understand every word that the girl had said, and as sure was sure that the girl was not speaking Japanese that should not have been possible, and that worried her.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Sitting in the shade of a tree, Naru worked on her summer homework. While in years past she tended to put off the assignments to the last few days of break, this year she had decided to get an early start on it. For a moment she wondered what Usagi would have said, but then with a shake of her head and a smile, Naru realized that more than likely Usagi would have been beside her working on her homework. Or actually, she would more likely be down there in the valley with Ami, ChibiUsa, and Fighter training after having worked on her homework late at night by flashlight. Neither of them were quite the same girls that they were a year ago when they still had the innocence of childhood, now there was another who depended on them, which meant that they needed to get their responsibilities taken care of in a timely fashion so that they would not impinge on ChibiUsa.

Naru realized that very likely it really did not make a difference that she was working on her homework now as opposed to the end of summer vacation as more than likely Fighter would continue training ChibiUsa hard right through the end of the summer. However, in the off chance that ChibiUsa did get some free time, Naru wanted to make sure that she had the free time to spend with her little sister. It would be horribly unfair to ChibiUsa if she could not take the young girl out because she had not done her summer assignments.

Hearing a loud cracking sound, Naru looked up from the math problem that she was working on and had to wince as she saw Ami and Fighter lifting some large branches off of ChibiUsa. Whatever Fighter had done to ChibiUsa had to have hurt and Naru once again wondered at the wisdom of letting her new sister train with this off-worlder. But, as much as she wanted to save her best friend's daughter from all of this pain and to her safe, Naru knew that she had to let ChibiUsa undergo this training. An enemy was coming that would be specifically targeting ChibiUsa along with the other Senshi and the only way that ChibiUsa stood any kind of a chance was if she underwent this training, and so with an effort Naru turned back to working on her math problem.

However, five minutes later the math problem continued to elude her and so Naru decided it was time for a break. Putting aside her books, Naru stood and stretched her muscles. Looking down into the valley where the others were currently training, Naru saw that Fighter was currently having Ami and ChibiUsa spar with each other. As much as it pained her last night here in the mountains and the previous nights back in Tokyo to see the discomfort that ChibiUsa was in from all of the bruises that she picked up over the course of the day, Naru knew that all things considered ChibiUsa was enjoying her training – the girl always had a large smile on her face. Though, hopefully tonight all that ChibiUsa would have would be her smile as opposed to last night when she had returned to camp utterly covered in mud.

Naru still was not quite sure how ChibiUsa had gotten covered in mud other than that it involved the young girl dodging too much and a river. Whatever the cause had been, it had taken Naru a good hour to get the girl sufficiently clean that she was willing to allow ChibiUsa into her tent and into her arms. Though, even with using up a good amount of the shampoo that she had thankfully thought to bring, ChibiUsa was still going to need a good thorough cleaning when they got back to civilization. _Of course knowing my luck they will find a way to make her even dirtier tonight. Maybe they will manage to get her coated with pine sap._ Naru thought to herself as she made a mental note to next week bring some throwaway sleeping clothes for herself and ChibiUsa. While ChibiUsa spent most of the night on her own bed roll in the tent that she shared with Naru and the two slept in different houses back in Tokyo, Naru had let the young girl fall asleep each night this week in her arms, as the soreness from the training did not seem to bother ChibiUsa as much when she was held. Thankfully, so far, by morning ChibiUsa's soreness was gone and Naru didn't really mind having to mother ChibiUsa a little bit more, as she liked to be able to think that she was at least contributing something to the young girl's training.

Turning her attention away from the likely cleaning nightmare that she was going to face that evening, Naru packed her various study materials away in the daypack that Mamoru-san had bought for her for this trip and as a way of saying thank you for taking care of ChibiUsa. Once the bag was zipped up, she stood back up and swung it onto her shoulders before taking out a map and compass. Examining the map for a few moments and then using the compass to make sure that she was correctly relating the various landmarks to the map, Naru headed off for a little walk, selecting one of the trails that she and Ami had discussed as possible hiking options that morning during breakfast in case she got bored.

For the redhead this was the first time she had been out camping and also the first time that she had really done much of any hiking. Before mall trolling and beaches always tended to be the focus of her free time during her breaks, and if it wasn't for the responsibility she had undertaken with looking out for ChibiUsa she probably would not have come on this little trip. That, however, would have been a big loss, Naru now realized. Being out here in the mountain air was quite refreshing, and Naru was quite enjoying herself. The only thing missing was being able to spend it with one of her friends. In particular Usagi, but Umino would also have been a welcome addition. Unfortunately, the gossip king of the school was away these next two weeks with his folks, but maybe he would be up for one of these trips later in the summer.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The kiss that Ginny gave Harry that first night he was at the Burrow started a routine in which each night before going to sleep, she would give him a firm kiss on his lips. That first week, the kisses appeared to catch him by surprise, but by the second week he was returning the kiss and had a smile on his face when she approached. Though, the kisses still left him grinning like a fool afterwards, but Ginny did not mind, after all she had looked like a fool during the summer before her first year with her crush. Her actions garnered a fair bit of reaction from three of her brothers with Ron seemingly to be almost as confused as Harry, so confused that he had yet to once try to be his normal protective brother-self with her relations, while the twins seemed to find the whole situation hilarious.

This evening was no different from the previous ones, with her being able to add another wonderful kiss to her memory, and if she was not mistaken Harry looked like he wanted to pull her into a hug and maybe steal a second kiss. Maybe tomorrow night that twitching arm would envelope her and in so doing confirm for her that he felt the same way that she did. And, so it was to dreams of finally truly and fully having Harry as her own that Ginny fell asleep to.

Unfortunately, as much as she would have liked to have been able to enjoy her dreams of being wrapped up in Harry's arms till the morning sun was high the sky, she was awoken before the dawn sun had crested the horizon by someone calling her name. Creaking her eye lids open, Ginny with a sigh noted that it was still dark out and reflexively placing the blame on two of her older brothers, she thought, _This had better not be one of the twins' pranks._ as she unhappily sat up in her bed. Looking around the room, she tried to find whatever the twins had enchanted to wake her up so that she could hex it to bits.

Seeming to sense that it would be best to let Ginny get a sense of herself before drawing attention to itself, the voice remained quiet for a few moments while Ginny's instinctive desire to blast first passed before finally repeating "Mistress."

Hearing the voice, Ginny turned to look in the direction that the voice had come from. Creasing her brows she was unable to see anything in the moonlight, but then a moment later her eyes picked up movement. Now turning her whole focus to the barely visible shape, Ginny wandlessly cast an illumination spell to form a reddish globe of light that she lofted into the space between herself and what she now saw to be a gardener snake. How Ginny knew it was a garner snake, she did not know. She figured that like her wandless magic it was a result of her being the heir of Slytherin, and she guessed that in some ways it made perfect sense for the Slytherin Heir to be able to identify the species of any snake on sight.

Now realizing that it was a snake that had awoken her, Ginny sighed and with a slight bit of irritation that she was unable to suppress, she asked "What is it?" As much as gaining a nice boost in her magic prowess and being told that Harry was her mate were nice benefits of being the Heir of Slytherin, there was a downside and that was the fact that snakes would now frequently seek her out to pay their respects or to provide her with information on what they considered to be her domain, the Burrow. Now this would not be too much a problem if the snakes had confined their visits to the daylight hours, but more often than not their visits were in the middle of the night. At least, she mused to herself, she was slowly weaning them of the need to constantly pay their respects to her and even more slowly they were learning that they did not need to keep her informed as to the local field mice population and other such trivial matters.

"A powerful human approaches your land," the snake replied.

"How many?" Ginny asked as she instantly became alert and now quite glad that the snakes patrolled her home.

"Just one. She walks along the stone path."

"Thank you," Ginny replied, as she swung her legs out of the bed and moved to pull on some clothes. She would have expected the Death Eaters to show up with more than person, they did not like taking risks and Voldemort would want to have witnesses for his "glorious" actions. While that would seem to imply that the visitor was as friend, Ginny knew that that was even more unlikely, as all of their friends would have come to the Burrow straight and not needed to walk along the muggle road.

Now dressed, Ginny reached down with her arm to the snake and said, "Please show me the way."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Sailor Saturn slowed to a stop as she came upon a bend in the road. There was no doubting it, after ten days of travel she had finally caught up with Harry again. Looking across the street at the location where she could feel his presence, she saw a lot that was overgrown with wild grass, giving the impression that only an open meadow lay between the road and the distant woods. If it had not been for the connection she currently had with this boy a few years older than herself, Hotaru would not have believed that anyone lived there. Or maybe nobody did live there and Harry was just out camping with his friend's family. As long as he did not teleport away, or at least a long way away in the morning Hotaru was fine. _Teleportation, I wonder if the library at Harry's school has any instruction books on it? Or is that something that they learn once they leave school?_ Hotaru thought to herself as she imagined how much fun teleporting around would be. She could go home and see her sister/best friend again; heck she could even prank that pink haired girl. While Hotaru might not be a very mischievous person, it is near impossible to be a good friend of ChibiUsa and not to pick up some of the young girl's fun loving ways and plus Hotaru's thoughts were more on ways that she could get the little munchkin back for the times that ChibiUsa has pranked her.

The sound of an approaching truck broke Hotaru out of her introspection and the Soldier of Silence leapt a half dozen meters into the brush, leaving no indication along the road of her former presence, before starting up a slow walking pace once the truck had passed. After walking for a few more minutes and crossing the street, Hotaru noticed that the darkness of night was hiding a structure. At first glance, the structure looked like it was a broken down farm house. If ChibiUsa had been the one leading the way, Hotaru would have guessed that her friend was looking to visit a haunted house. However, ChibiUsa was not here and so Hotaru wondered what Harry would be doing here. Shrugging her shoulders, Hotaru continued to walk forward, expecting that the dilapidated farm house's presence was just a coincidence.

Turning her attention away from the farm house, Hotaru looked around the rest of the field, feeling quite at peace being here. The grasses were softly swaying in the night's breeze and there was an overall sense of calmness that just wasn't present during the day, a calmness that called to her. The comfort of the night was something that she had noticed as she had trailed after Harry and Luna these past few days, having done most of her traveling at night where she could hide in the shadows as she ran at high speed towards her destination.

"Halt!" a female voice cut into the night, instantly drawing Hotaru's attention and causing Hotaru to reflexively slip into a combat stance.

Turning to face the new arrival, Hotaru was surprised by how close this stranger had gotten to her. She knew that if Luna had been hear that she would have been getting a lecture later about letting her guard down, not that Hotaru felt that she had done anything wrong. Watching as the new arrival close to about two meters distance, Hotaru noticed that she looked to be about the age of her mother or maybe a few years older.

"Who are you and what purpose do you have with my Harry?" the stranger asked.

Sensing the strong undercurrent of protectiveness in the stranger's voice, a protectiveness that reminded her of much of the way that she herself felt about ChibiUsa, Hotaru instantly relaxed, realizing that the stranger was an ally.

Flipping on the flashlight that she carried, but rarely used, Hotaru slowly rotated her hand so that the flashlight illuminated her face before replying. "I am known as Sailor Saturn and I mean no harm to you or Harry." Then having said that, Hotaru reached forward with her right arm, palm down before summoning the Silence Glaive into her hand. Looking up into the stranger's eyes, she continued, "You may keep my Glaive," before bending down and placing the fearsome weapon down on the ground. Standing back up, she asked, "Might I ask your name?"

"Ginny Weasley," the stranger replied before muttering a few words and causing a sphere of blue flame to form in the palm of her left hand. Lifting the flame up, she illuminated her face before kneeling down and picking up the Glaive that had unbeknownst to Hotaru been moved to the feet of the redhead.

"Harry's friend?" Hotaru asked in almost a giggle with a little extra emphasis on the second word, totally at odds her somber tone of a moment ago.

"Ah, yes…," Ginny replied confused by the tone of the question as she began to wonder how old this Sailor Saturn was. The low light of night made it very hard to judge size and age and all Ginny had been able to gather from when the other girl had illuminated her face was that she was younger than a sixth year; though her words were in contrast to how young she appeared to be. In any case, Ginny was sure that the girl was at least a fourth year to be out her alone at this time of night.

"So are the two of you camping out in the fields here?" Hotaru asked thinking of how fun it would be to do that with ChibiUsa and her momma.

Hearing those words confused Ginny for a moment before she realized that the girl in front of her was being fooled by the Burrow's warding, which meant that she was a muggle. But Ginny was sure that the only non-magical folk that Harry knew lived in Surrey, so what was this Sailor Saturn doing here and what kind of name was Sailor Saturn in the first place? Now fully back on her guard Ginny fed more magic in the light ball causing it float up into the sky and flare out, fully illuminating this Sailor Saturn.

"You are just a kid," Ginny accused Saturn as she finally got a good look at Saturn.

Hotaru smiled ruefully at that comment, how much she longed to be just a nine year old child. If she had been a normal kid then she would never have been shunned by her peers or berated by her father's assistants. But at the same time if she had been normal then she would never have met ChibiUsa and gotten her new mother. No as much as she did not like the pain, Hotaru would do anything to have ChibiUsa as her sister and Usagi as her momma. Forcing those emotions away, Hotaru spoke, "And so are you and Harry, as well as my sister and my mother. But just as it is Harry's destiny to fight so it is mine as well and for as long as fate allows it I will be his guardian and teacher."

Ginny could sense the truthfulness in the young girl's words. She was not sure how she knew it, but for some weeks now she had been able to tell when people were being truthful, lying, or evasive, at least when she was in the same room with them, and that sense she had developed was telling her that this girl was someone who she could trust.

"I am also known as Hotaru Tomoe," Saturn added a few moments later as she let her civilian guise form.

_Now that's a useful trick._ Ginny thought to herself as she saw this Saturn silently apply a complex set of disguise magic. If she hadn't seen it with her own two eyes, she would never have believed that the girl in front of her was the same person as that supposed child warrior that had been standing in the same place a moment earlier. The twins would give their souls to learn how to do something like that, as it would allow them to pull of pranks with no one being the wiser. But even more than the visual change, the presence that Ginny felt from the girl was completely different, for the girl in front of her no longer radiated power.

Deciding that she was going to trust this girl, Ginny held out her hand and said, "Well then Hotaru it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Hai, arigatou gozaimasu," Hotaru replied in Japanese with a large smile on her face as she took the other girl's hand.

"Well then let's return to the house. Not sure how we will explain your presence to my family, but we can think of something in the morning," Ginny said as she turned back to the house.

Coming up beside the older girl, Hotaru slipped her right hand into Ginny's free left hand and began to walk to the house. "You don't need to tell your family about me."

"But where are you going to sleep?"

"The woods. I've been sleeping there since spring," Hotaru replied, leaving out the fact that she had spent some of July sleeping in Harry's bed.

"You sure?"

"Yes I am. I can be a better guard to Harry if no one knows about me."

"But I thought you said you were also his teacher?" Ginny asked

"I am and you will just have to get him alone for some boyfriend-girlfriend time and then I can teach him and you too." Hotaru replied, causing Ginny to blush quite vividly, not that anyone could tell in the darkness of the night.

"He… He said that he wanted to be my boyfriend?" Ginny asked surprised, as after all each time she had made a play on developing their relationship these past couple of weeks she had essentially broken Harry.

"Not exactly, but he likes you."

"How do you know?"

"I saw it in his mind when I was helping to block his mind from that Dark Lord that is after him. You are the most important thing there."

Blushing once again as she realized that Harry did fancy her, Ginny missed Hotaru's mention of helping someone else to block Harry's mind. _I guess it is not so surprising that even though he fancied me that he is still flustered by my advances. It is not like I had been around him much before this past year and I know from what I have gotten him to admit that his home life has not been good and I am sure that he is trying to make it sound less worse than it really is._

"Nani!" Hotaru exclaimed as the two of them stepped through the last of the wards and the Borrow was revealed in its true form to her. "But, that was not here a moment ago," Hotaru said with big eyes.

Smiling, Ginny looked down at her companion, "There are wards around our property to keep muggles from seeing it. It wouldn't be any good if a muggle walked up to our house and saw all of our magic." Ginny explain.

Nodding her understanding, Ginny simply replied, "Sugoi."

"Though, I am curious as to why you couldn't see it. Maybe it has to do with the new wards that Bill and Dumbledore put around it in preparation for Harry's arrival." Ginny mused to herself, finally settling on the explanation that the muggle aversion wards must have been expanded to include anyone who did not already know of the Borrow location. The snake part of her smiled at the ingenuity of the solution, the best fought battle was the one that was not fought and if Death Eaters saw nothing but rundown muggle property then they would just keep on moving.

"Ginny-san, in the morning can you and Harry come out and find a secluded location. I will you see you then." Hotaru said between yawns. Even though she had been mostly traveling at night to avoid being seen and sleeping during the day, she was still unable to stay up the entire night and her body was once again beginning to fall asleep.

"You sure that you want to sleep out here?"

"Yep," Hotaru said with a nod even though she would really like to sleep on a bed again. However, that was not an option if she wanted to stay hidden.

Giving the younger girl a hug first, Ginny said "Sleep well then Hotaru," before watching Hotaru disappear towards the woods that lined the property by the pond.

Once Hotaru had vanished from sight, Ginny turned her attention back to the house. She too was ready to go to sleep and unlike Hotaru she was not used to being up at this time of night and now with the adrenaline of the warning that her snakes had provided her having warn off she felt slumber calling her again. Walking up to the door, Ginny paused as she moved to open it when she realized that she was still holding Hotaru's glaive.

_Forgot that I was still holding her weapon._ Ginny thought to herself as she began to look over the Glaive. While part of her still doubted Hotaru's story about being a soldier, seeing this weapon somehow made it clear to her that Hotaru was telling the truth. There was a power in it and Ginny was glad that she was not on the wrong side of the weapon's wielder. _Now where to store this until I can give it back to her._ Ginny thought to herself. If she left it outside, Hotaru could pick it up the following evening. But there was too much chance that someone else might find it if she did that. No the only option was to take it up to her room. None of her brother's ever entered there, having learned many years ago that disrespecting their sister's privacy was a good way to get hexed. The only ones she had to worry about were her parents and as long as she kept it out of sight she would be good there as well.

Heading up to her room, Ginny removed some items from under her bed before slipping the Glaive under the bed and returning the items. Plopping herself down on the bed, she kicked off her trainers and wiggled her way out of her robe. Then after kicking the robe to the floor, she pulled up the covers and made herself comfortable. Falling asleep, one of Hotaru's comments came to mind about having to just have some boyfriend-girlfriend time with Harry for Hotaru to do her training. Smiling at that thought Ginny happy looked forward to the rest of the summer and as she drifted off to sleep she knew that Harry would claim her as his own by the end of the summer.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"You look a little worn out," Samantha Carter said in greeting to Ami as the blue haired girl entered into Carter's office for her evening tutoring.

"Hai, I am. I had thought that the accelerated training that Mao and Erion had put together was rough. However, it is nothing like what those three extra-solar Senshi are putting the princess and me through now."

"That bad?"

"Take my existing training but add in the desperation of knowing that you may only have months before the world is destroyed and you get their training methods."

"Ouch," Carter replied imagining what the younger girl must be being put through. She had a very good academy friend, Cameron Mitchell, who had gone into Special Forces training and his stories of his own training gave her a very good idea of what her friend was going through now. "I hope that they are at least taking it a little easier on your princess, she is what only seven?"

"Eight, but no she is getting the same treatment and I can't imagine how she is making it through all of this. I wish that I had more time to spend with her and the others, but I am needed here. I am just glad that it is summer break now as I don't know how she would stay awake in school otherwise. Though, I guess she could be said to just be following her mother's example."

"You mean they are using live rounds on a child!" Carter strongly asked having seen the charring on Ami's uniform when she had arrived.

Having been slightly caught up in reminiscing over Usagi from her previous response, Ami was caught slightly unaware by Carter's angry response and jumped. "Wha…" she mumbled as her brain replayed the last question, before more eloquently replying, "Hai, we do spar using our powers and during the endurance training Fighter does try to tag us with her attacks. However, only a few of us have one hit-kill attacks and part of the training is to be able to shake off being hit and to return to the battle faster.

"Some of you have more powerful attacks?" Carter asked a bit surprised at this bit of news. Till now Carter had assumed that the Sailor Senshi were equivalent with no significant specialization other than perhaps Ami's computer. The reason for that assumption was her belief that the Sailor Senshi were likely originally supposed to work individually as the leaders of separate platoons of regular soldiers, as opposed to as a team of only Sailor Soldiers where specialization would then be beneficial.

"Hai, Uranus and Neptune can seriously injure if not outright kill a demon with a single attack and Pluto was in that league as well."

"Why don't the rest of you have that level of power?"

Pausing for a moment, Ami thought about that question, it had been something that she had been thinking about for the past few days after having noticing that Fighter, Maker, and Healer's powers were more on the level of hers, Jupiter, Venus, and Mar's as opposed to Uranus and Neptune. "I think it has to do with our roles. The four of us who represent the innermost planets of the group in the past would have acted as royal guards for the Queen while Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto strictly dealt with threats."

"Which mean that the four of you needed less lethal as well as more focused attacks," Carter replied seeing the logic behind the situation. The outer three were the artillery of the group as in their battles they did not have to generally worry about bystanders or needing to take the enemy alive. But for the royal guards you would want the attacks that came right at hand to be highly controlled. Though, that said you wouldn't want to handicap the guards from being able to fight all out either. "Ami-chan, are you sure that you don't have anything as power as Uranus and Neptune?"

Not expecting that question it took Ami a few moments to reply, "I don't know. I didn't know about my _Shine Aqua Illusion_ until after… Sailor Moon's mother had unlocked our powers. Maybe now that I seem to have unlocked another level of my power there is a new attack. But why do you think that it would be something like Uranus and Neptune's?"

"For your role as a guard, your current attacks make a lot of sense. However, they put you at a disadvantage when you have to face a full-fledged threat as opposed to just a assassination attempt and 4 guards for the queen and 3 guardians against outside threats doesn't seem to be a reasonable ratio," Carter said, lumping Saturn in with Uranus and Neptune and understanding that Pluto was a special case. "But if the four of you could also fight with Neptune and Uranus things would make more sense.

"But if that is the case, shouldn't we have remembered those stronger attacks first?" Ami asked a bit harshly, thinking about how much easier that would have made fighting Beryl, especially when it was just her and Usagi. If it hadn't been for Mamoru there was no way the two of them would have survived those first few battles before Rei joined them. Usagi had her tiara, but no skill to speak of and as for herself all she could do was create cover and try to use her computer to find a weak spot for Usagi to attack. Not that finding those weak spots did much, as in most cases Usagi's tiara could have cut through any location on the Youma. But if she could have had real attacks then she could have been a real guardian for the one who meant more to her than anything and not have had to gone to sleep at times wondering if Usagi was going to dismiss her for being deadweight.

Hearing the harsh tone in Ami's voice, Carter was not offended, recognizing that she had probably hit on a sore subject for the otherwise normally gently mannered girl. Furthermore, she had a good idea of why it was a sore subject for Ami as well. Reaching out with her hand and placing it on Ami's shoulder, Carter smiled as the younger girl looked up in her eyes. "I am not trying to blame you or anything Ami-chan. I am just trying to help you be all that you can be."

"Gomen nasai," Ami replied, as she looked down with a red face over her little outburst.

Stepping forward and pulling the young girl into her arms, Carter gave the young warrior a hug before leading her over to one of the lab tables, something that she should probably have done at the start of the conversation. "Don't be. I would be touchy too if someone was implying that in giving my all to protect this world that I wasn't really giving my all."

"That's not it, I was just frustrated with myself over not trying to explore my powers to see if I could come up with something more than my fog, for you see when I first became Sailor Mercury it was just myself and Sailor Moon and she was almost killed many times because I couldn't contribute offensively to the battle. Just having my rifle back then would have made a big difference."

_Sailor Moon? But I thought that she was just awakened, but then there were the briefing materials that talked about her being there from the beginning. I am going to need to ask Ami about that, but not now,_ Carter thought to herself while making a mental note to learn more about this Sailor Moon. "I think that it is only natural that you learned your less lethal attacks first. You mentioned that your primary duties were to be a royal guard, which means that those less lethal powers would need to be the ones that came most naturally to you. You wouldn't want to accidently destroy the throne room in taking down an assassin, now would you?"

In spite of herself, Ami smiled slightly at Carter's light attempt at humor there at the end and in thinking over Carter's words she had to agree with the Air Force Captain. "Hai, you are right Carter-sensei and now that you mention it, I have felt during the training something yearning to be unleashed and maybe it is something on the order of what Uranus and Neptune can do. Tomorrow when I am rested, I will try to see if I can remember how to use that attack.

"Good. Now how about we go grab some blue Jell-O before turning to reviewing your physics test from yesterday?"

OoOoOoOoOoOo

That evening while Ami was talking with Carter, Naru was bringing ChibiUsa on home to the Tsukino household after having briefly stopped for a dinner of skewered chicken. She hoped that Ikuko wouldn't be too upset about not getting ChibiUsa home in time for dinner. If ChibiUsa had not looked so dead on her feet at the end of the day's training, Naru would have brought her straight home. However, the training was finally starting to catch up with her young charge, and Naru had felt it prudent to get the girl something to eat while she was still awake, a decision that had turned out to be quite prudent as she was now carrying a snoring ChibiUsa.

Pausing for a moment, to heft ChibiUsa as she readjusted her hold on the young child, Naru wished she knew how Usagi made it look so easy to carrying the young girl. _I guess it must be due to her being Sailor Moon, as my arms are killing me,_ Naru thought to herself as she remembered that Usagi had even once carried both Hotaru and ChibiUsa at the same time. However, as much as her arms were killing her, she refused to wake the young girl and force her to walk, even if it meant that she had to stop every few minutes to gently put ChibiUsa on down so as to rest her arms.

Fifteen minutes later, Naru finally reached the Tsukino household, and carefully juggling ChibiUsa, she opened the gate and walked up the drive to the house proper. Upon reaching the house, she again carefully reached out a hand to open the door. With how frequently she now came over in looking after ChibiUsa, the Tsukino family had told her to just come on in when she arrived and had even given her a key.

Hearing the door open, Kenji put down the paper that he was reading and headed over to the door. Given that there had been no knock that more than likely that meant that it was Naru and he wanted to make sure that she took a moment to rest before heading on home. Given the late hour, she and ChibiUsa had obviously been busy, and as such she should at least join them for a cup of tea before going on her way.

Reaching the front parlor just as Naru finished setting down the sleeping ChibiUsa, Kenji said, "Looks like it was a busy workout for her today. How far did you carry her home?"

"Yes it was, but I did not have to carry her far," Naru replied.

Kenji, however, did believe that modest reply, there was an obvious sway to Naru as she slipped her shoes off and put on the slippers. One of the things that he had come to learn in the past few months was that his daughter's friends were always extremely modest in referring to what they went through as the Sailor Senshi. Part of that he understood to be them just trying to make things comparable as they could take a lot more, but even still he noticed that they would downplay how badly hurt they were. He had thought that given that Naru wasn't one of them that she would give him a more honest answer, but apparently that wasn't the case.

"Here let me take her the rest of the way up to her room while you go and sit down at the table, I will ask Ikuko to get you some tea. Have you eaten?"

"Hai, we did stop for chicken on the way back," Naru replied in an apologetic tone.

"Don't worry. I am sure that you made sure that ChibiUsa ate reasonably healthy and you did the right thing. It was better to get something into her. Now you go on and sit down."

Nodding her understanding, Naru finished putting on her slippers and followed Kenji on into the house proper. Kneeling down at the table, she was only vaguely aware of Ikuko coming in the room and speaking with Kenji before the older woman left to begin heating up some hot water for tea.

Returning with the hot water, Ikuko smiled at the sight of her daughter's best friend doing her best to avoid following ChibiUsa into slumber. The girl was a god send in helping to watch over the active child that was ChibiUsa, and even more importantly she had been the one to help ChibiUsa get over the loss of her mother. Naru was so involved in looking after ChibiUsa that in many ways it felt like she had gained another daughter between the amount of time Naru had spent over the years here with Usagi and now with her constantly watching over ChibiUsa and she knew that Abe had come to see ChibiUsa in much the same way – at least after the rough start with the park incident.

That still left her with having to watch out for the three year old ChibiChibi who with her apparent ability to wonder off through solid walls was enough to drive Ikuko to distraction. Ikuko had lost track of the number of times that she had turned her attention away from the redheaded girl for just a moment while standing in the only door to a room to only discover that the girl had vanished. Though, with ChibiUsa now often taking ChibiChibi out with her, as the girl was in effect her new henshin "wand," Ikuko didn't have to worry about ChibiChibi quite so much. That said, Ikuko was still curious how ChibiChibi had managed to show up in the kitchen two hours ago carrying a confused feline Diana, especially since Naru and ChibiUsa only now arrived home.

At least Ami-chan was equally as confused by ChibiChibi as she was, so Ikuko didn't feel too bad. Finishing up the tea, she brought the pot along with three cups into the dining room. Then after setting the tray down on the table, she poured the tea just in time for her husband's return from putting their granddaughter to bed.

"So where did ChibiUsa fall asleep on you?" Kenji asked when he returned

"She fell asleep while we were waiting for the bus after getting dinner."

"You carried her all of the way back here by yourself?" Ikuko asked, impressed.

"Yes," Naru replied.

"No wonder you look so tired. In that case, I think that it would be best if you spent the night here." Ikuko replied. "When you are finished with your tea why don't you head upstairs and take a bath. While you are doing that I will put out a pair of Usagi's pajamas for you to wear."

"Arigatou," Naru replied, not needing to be told that she would be sleeping in ChibiUsa's attic room, having spent roughly a night a week here since ChibiUsa had decided that Naru was to be her big sister.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Sitting on a tree branch, Hotaru waited for Ginny and Harry to arrive. Unlike at Harry's where she had been able to sleep in the same room and actually in the same bed as Harry, she had to spend the previous night outside and from what Ginny had said this morning when she had briefly come by to check on her Hotaru wondered if that was going to be the case for the rest of the summer holidays. Here Harry shared a room with one of Ginny's brothers and Ginny was expecting another one of Harry's friends to arrive in a week's time who would be sharing her room. Though that still left a week of time in which Ginny was sleeping alone, but after hearing that Ginny's brothers were not very good with privacy, Hotaru knew that sleeping in Ginny's room was not an option. Even though she had said as much to Ginny the night before, she had really been hoping that sleeping outside was going to be more of a one night thing, with them working out today whose bed she would be sharing.

With as much trouble as she and Luna had gone through to get here without Harry's headmaster knowing, Hotaru could only assume that Luna would not approve of anyone else in the family knowing about her presence. Actually, Hotaru had a strong feeling that she was going to be in trouble as it was with letting Ginny know. Hotaru just hoped that Luna would understand that it wasn't her fault and that she had been very careful to avoid being detected. She still was not sure how Ginny had even known to come out and look for her, especially since none of the adults had been awoken.

"Hotaru you can come down now," Ginny called out as she entered into the woods by the pond with a confused Harry following behind her.

Hearing those words, Hotaru dropped to the ground. "Good morning Ginny-san, Harry-san," she said. Then catching the eyes of Luna, she let her smile fade to be replaced by a contrite look.

"It is okay Hotaru-chan. There is something different about Ginny-san and I think that she might also have a role to play with why you were drawn to Harry," Luna said trying to reassure her charge.

"You mean it?" Hotaru tentatively asked.

"Hai."

Ginny's eyes had gone wide as she heard Luna speak and as soon as Luna and Hotaru finished greeting each other, she said, "You can talk. You are not an animagus are you?"

"Yes, I nihongo speak. Animagus I not be," Luna replied in very broken English.

"Nihongo?" asked Ginny, unfamiliar with the word.

"Japanese," Hotaru replied.

"So Harry's new cat speaks Japanese and can understand English. I am guessing that since you already know Harry that Luna must be associated with you Hotaru?"

"Yes she is. She is actually my mother's guardian, but she is currently looking out for me." Then turning to Luna, she asked, "You can understand English now?"

"Iie, no better than last time. But what Ginny speaks is not English as I can understand her perfectly. I don't know why, as everyone else is also able to understand her and the only other language I know is that which was spoken on the Moon and I know that I am the only here who knows that language."

Turning back to Ginny, Hotaru said, "Luna says that she can understand everything that you say, but doesn't know how that can be as she is horrible with English."

This time it was Ginny's turn for her features to drop as she realized that she could no longer hide from her friends what had happened to her voice. "That is because I can no longer speak English or any other normal language."

"But you are speaking right now." Hotaru interrupted.

"But it is not English it is parseltongue," Ginny continued. Hearing the sharp intake of breath from Harry her features dropped slightly before she further explained, "the language of snakes. I can now only speak snake and it is only because of magic that you can understand what I say."

Having said her piece, Ginny prepared to go hide herself away in her room, knowing that Harry would never want her now. She might have convinced herself not long ago to fight and make Harry hers, but she now realized that she was just deluding herself. He would never want the damage goods that were her. However, before she could turn more than a quarter turn an arm grabbed a hold of her and pulled her into a firm chest. Looking up with questioning eyes, she saw an understanding pair of green eyes looking back down at her.

"Ginny it is okay." Harry said and then seeing the painful need for reassurance that her eyes were communicating, Harry finished wrapping the younger girl up in a hug as he pulled the side of her face flush against his chest. "Just because you now speak parseltongue you are not evil. If Hotaru and Luna trust you, then I trust you. I too have been marked as some of Voldemort's power was left in me from when he tried to kill me."

"Even if I am the true Heir of Slytherin?" Ginny asked.

"Yes." Harry replied without missing a beat.

Pulling back and looking up at Harry, Ginny asked, "You mean it?"

"That I do Gin. I don't care if you are the Heir of Slytherin," and with that Harry kissed Ginny in much the same way that she had first kissed him not long ago, completing the circle and calming her fears in ways that no other method could.

Hearing that acceptance and experiencing her first Harry initiated kiss, the dam of emotions that Ginny had hidden away since Luna Lovegod's present had revealed unwanted knowledge broke and Ginny began to cry into Harry's chest. Unsure of what to do at first, Harry simply stood there for a moment before a firm pull on his shoulder guided him along with Ginny down to the ground. Then taking a seat leaning against one of the tree trunks, Harry pulled Ginny towards himself and once she had taken his hint and crawled into his lap, he wrapped his arms around her.

The two of them sat like that with Hotaru and a human Luna watching over them for quite a while. As Harry held the sobbing Ginny, he slowly began to realize that he quite enjoyed the feeling of having Ginny in his arms, even more so than he liked her good night kisses. For some reason having her in his arms just made him feel complete and content. Then following upon that realization was a second one in which he realized that her being sad made him sad and that he never wanted a frown to hide her bright smile again. He was not all sure what this meant in terms of his relationship with his best mate's sister, but that was for another time to figure out – Ginny needed him now and he would be there for her.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Mr. President, do you have any idea of what you are doing?" an irate congressman from California challenged President Ryan.

"Congressman Tate I understand your concern. However, the Joint Forces radio is no longer a viable program. It is far exceeded in every manner by the new radios that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will be manufacturing by the end of the year."

"I can't believe that you are compromising our national security just so that you can get your radios a little cheaper. The JF radios are the culmination of years of research and they far exceed everything else on the market."

"Congressman Tate you know as well as I do that that is no longer the case. You are a ranking member of the armed forces appropriation committee and have seen the specs of the new radios that I have instructed our forces to buy. Those radios are reversed engineered from technology that is centuries in advance of what we currently have and have made the current JF radios utterly obsolete." Ryan replied in a calm tone, before moving on with, "Now I have to wonder about your sudden concern for our military forces. You have voted against nearly every military appropriation bill and I believe you ran on a platform of disbanding our military. I would think that you would be happy to find that we have found a lower cost solution for the inter-service radios that our forces need. The only reason why I can think that you would be opposed to them is that a major employer in your district just happens to be the prime contractor for the JF radios."

"How dare you!" the flustered Congressman replied as Ryan hit too close for comfort. "Just remember who controls the purse strings."

"And, I would have your remember Congressman who is the Commander in Chief. I don't care if you line item the purchase of those radios. I will issue an Executive Order barring the military from actually making any of those purchases. Whether you want to admit it or not, we are faced with a war and I will do everything in my power to make sure that we are ready to face that threat." Ryan replied harshly. "Now if you don't have anything else, I have other matters to attend to." Ryan added a moment later, curtly dismissing the Congressman.

"Well that is one way to take Congressman Tate down a notch, but I am afraid that you have probably just created yourself a new problem," Ryan's chief of staff said as he entered the Oval Office following the departure of one quite displeased Congressman.

Slumping his head down on his desk, Ryan replied, "I know," while wishing that he still smoked, he could really use one right now to help him escape from his frustrations. "I just wish that they could see the threat that is out there. We have briefed a good portion of the House and Senate on the threat that Galaxia poses, but they still fight tooth and nail anything that might prepare us for inevitable invasion. I am actually surprised that I haven't had any of them complain about us participating in the research effort.

"They don't want to fight a war."

"And do they think I do?" Ryan replied.

"You know that they don't."

"Sometimes I wonder. You do remember the articles that came out after my undercover work with the CIA was leaked."

"And it is that same experience that makes you the best suited to be President right now. As a spook you spent all of your days dealing with potential threats that if we waited till we had concrete evidence for it would be too late. However, for most people possible threats can be safely ignored and with this Galaxia they don't see anything that makes this real."

"So they are going to want to wait until we have some demented super villain running around stealing peoples souls?"

"To a degree that is probably going to be the case and we are just going to have to fight tooth and nail to get what we little we can. Though, on the plus side no one raised a ruckus over the State Department giving the green light and the winning of the contract by some of our munitions companies for the production of those technomagic bullet rounds for Japan."

"You are right. Well I think after that last appointment, I am done for the day. I need to spend some time with the kids."

"I suspected as much, which is why I scheduled you a two hour break following Tate. Now go on and see your kids, they are waiting for you." Kenny replied with a comforting smile. Though, as he said so a thought caught in his mind. Following Ryan on out of the Oval Office, Kenny headed to his own office intent on making a couple of calls. _If I remember correctly, the princess that leads these Sailor Senshi is just a child not even in high school and I think that I also remember it being said that she does or once did fight alongside of them. Now we can't show them the horror of the fate that awaits Earth, but maybe seeing those who have the primary responsibility of protecting us will spark something. It is one thing to play politics with other politicians, but I doubt that the even the coldest political operative would be able to do the same with a child._

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Walking up to one of Tokyo's concert halls / theaters, Ami was still thinking about the call she had taken just before she left work to come over. The request had taken its time going through the various channels in the Japanese government before being forwarded to her, but apparently the Americans were interested in having a state level meeting with the Moon Princess. Her first reaction was that ChibiUsa was too young to be involved in such a thing and as much as they were developing formal relations with the various governments in conjunction with the research facility and JSDF coordination, there was still the desire to stay away from politics. They after all were just junior high school girls and the only reason why they were fighting was because they were the only ones with the power to stop the enemy.

However, Ami also intellectually realized that things had changed from when they were fighting Beryl and then Rubeus. The threat that was Galaxia was on a whole new level, something that had been made very clear during her training with Fighter, Healer, and Maker. That meant that they had to coordinate not just at the local level with the military but at the state level and full national military cooperation implied complete diplomatic relations. In actuality it was a bit amazing that the various nations had allowed things to develop as long as they had without requesting at least ambassador level interactions with the fledgling Moon Kingdom.

Consequently, Ami had sent a message back through the Japanese government to the American State department indicating that the Moon Princess would be willing to visit the White House. Now she just had to inform ChibiUsa of her travel plans and work with Diana and Haruna-sensei getting ChibiUsa prepared for the trip. With its large GDP and industrial base, the US would be an important ally in the fight against Galaxia, even more so because they had all agreed that neither Russia nor China currently met their criteria for participating in the research effort. Maybe later they would relax their standards, but for now they had the time to insist on basic human rights and freedoms.

Now, however, was not the time to worry about diplomacy, the next couple of hours belonged to Michiru, her partner, and the orchestra. Taking out her ticket, Ami handed it over to the scanner who scanned her ticket before returning it back to her and directing her up the stairs. Walking up the stairs, Ami took her time so as to admire the décor of this particular theater. Unlike many of her friends for whom this was probably their first time in a theater that was not a movie theater, Ami had been to various other theaters a fair number of times with her mother over the years; though, this was the first time she had been to this one. Each time she had always been impressed with the level of detail that went into the artwork that made up the décor and when she had been younger she had often been quite fascinated by the chandeliers in the auditoriums. There had even been a couple of times when she had been quite little when she had pouted upon those chandeliers being extinguished so that the show could begin.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Not long after Ami had entered the auditorium, Sailor Iron Mouse, who had appropriated her ticket from an unfortunate concert patron, entered the auditorium as well and was directed to a seat in the loge section, not far from where the Sailor Senshi were sitting. Relaxing in her seat, she watched as the orchestra sans the two featured performers performed an overture or something (she was not very interested in the names that the humans on this planet assigned to their music; though, she did enjoy the music), as she thought about how fortuitous she had been. Just the other day she had come across a review of Kaiou-san's performance from some months back and had instantly decided that such a performer had to have a true star seed, and then this morning she had just randomly been walking by this very theater when she saw the posters for tonight's performance.

When the orchestra finished its piece, Iron Mouse joined in with the others in providing some polite applause before smiling as her target came out onto the stage, and so with eager anticipation she listened as the orchestra began playing again. Listening to the music it quickly became clear to her that her initial assessment was correct and that further more that the male partner to Kaiou-san was just as likely to be the holder of a true Star Seed, as there was no way that either of their performance could be so pure otherwise. The melody that they played pulled on her heart in ways that had been dead to her since her resurrection as a servant of Galaxia, and she would not have been surprised one bit if the music they played would have been able to bring a tear Galaxia herself if she had heard it.

Glancing around the theater, the Animate noticed that the music was similarly moving the other audience members and especially a group of girls who were sitting not far from her. Returning her gaze to the stage, she saw that even the orchestra had now fallen silent and Iron Mouse could see that the musicians were equally as caught up in the music as the audience. Though, to be far to the musicians their falling silent was not so much a reflection of their inability to perform through the emotions that the violin duet evoked, but because the two violinists were no longer playing the piece that they had started.

For fifteen minutes the only sounds heard in the auditorium were those of the two violins playing a song that only their souls knew, and when they finally finished it was to the stunned silence of the audience. For nearly a minute no one moved nor made any sound before finally one of the audience members managed to recover from the piece and began to clap. Her clapping broke the others out of the stupor and she was quickly joined by everyone else as Michiru and Ranma were given a thundering standing ovation.

Fervently applauding it took Iron Mouse until the second time that the two performers returned to the stage to bow to remember her purpose in coming to the theater. Being careful to not draw attention to herself, the disguised Animate quietly slipped out of the auditorium. Then once outside, she began to make her way backstage, taking advantage of the little reconnaissance that she had done during intermission.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Excuse me miss, but this is a restricted area," a security guard said, as Iron Mouse reached the corridor that led to the changing rooms.

"I am with Galaxia TV; I am here to do an interview with Saotome-san and Kaiou-san." Iron Mouse replied to the guard who had moved to block her path as she held out her fake credentials.

"Um... if you would hold on a minute," the security guard replied, having not been informed about any media interviews. Turning his attention away from the animate, the guard pulled out his radio to contact his supervisor. However, he never got a chance to make the call for a quick hit against the back of his neck knocked him out.

_Great now I have to find a place to dispose of this body,_ Iron Mouse despairingly thought to herself as she took in the sight of the crumbled body of the guard. However, before she could do anything about the guard, she heard the voices of others approaching her position. Turning to face back the way she had come, Iron Mouse smiled as she spied that the new arrivals that included her targets. _Guess I won't need to do anything about the guard after all,_ she thought to herself as she shed her glamour.

Feeling an unexplained shiver, Michiru along with Haruka, who was accompany her just as Ranma's fiancé Akane Tendo was accompanying him, looked up and caught sight of the strangely dressed woman that was Iron Mouse. Reacting on instinct, the two of them slipped into ready stances, as the stranger smiled in a very non-friendly manner.

Iron Mouse still could not believe her luck in stumbling across two individuals who obviously had true Star Seeds, and as such she broadly grinned before stating, "You will give me your Star Seeds." Then having said that she leveled her arms out the group and fired off a pair of golden spheres.

Reacting instantly to the attack, Akane and Haruka roughly grabbed a hold of their loved ones and threw them to the ground, covering them with their bodies. Then the moment that the deadly spheres had passed above, the two warriors were back to their feet and facing their enemy. Michiru lagged behind Akane and Haruka by just a few moments in returning to her feet, having needed a moment to get her bearings after having been roughly tossed to the ground – that was something that she was going to "discuss" with her love that evening once they got home.

Unable to henshin due to the presence of Michiru's partner and fiancé, Haruka slowly moved her right hand over to her left wrist where her communicator, disguised as a bracelet, lay. She had just about reached the communicator and its panic button when a new voice caused her to pause her actions.

"That boy's dream belongs to me," the unexpected soft sounding voice of Fish-Eye said drawing everyone's attention. Not knowing what he had just interrupted and not caring, the servant of Nehellenia snapped his fingers causing a board to appear behind Ranma and began counting to three.

Not willing to give up one of her prizes, Iron Mouse yelled, "No his Star Seed belongs to me!" before firing off an attack that Fish-Eye barely dodged, but which blew out the portion of the corridor wall outside of the Green Room.

Recovering from the attack, Fish-Eye narrowed his eyes and said, "We'll see about that, Lemure get them," as he summoned not one but two Lemures.

Satisfied that the Lemures would keep the interloper occupied, an interloper that had to be less of a threat than one of the Sailor Senshi, Fish-Eye turned his attention to his victim. Seeing that the other three that had been with the boy where trying to free him, Fish-Eye simply smirked, they would be even less of a threat than that other annoyance. Striding over to the three teenagers, he simply knocked each of them out of the way, one after the other. Not even the enhanced strengths that the Uranus and Neptune retained in their civilian forms nor Akane's status as a master of her martial arts school allowed them stand for more than a mere moment against the demon master.

Hitting the brick wall of the corridor hard, Haruka and Michiru shared a knowing look with each other before picking themselves up. Keeping their identities a secret was no longer an option, only as Uranus and Neptune could they hope to stand against Fish-Eye much less the other attacker. If they had not been with their princess since soon after their awakening they might have developed into soldiers willing to sacrifice Ranma for the greater good of retaining their secret, but they were not that type of soldier and so upon returning to their feet they called out their transformation phrases and opened themselves to their birthrights.

The brief pulse of power that accompanied the awakening of their Star Seeds drew the attention of Akane, Iron-Mouse, and the two Lemures that Iron Mouse was fighting against. Fish-Eye, however, ignored the pulse of power and, instead, jammed his head into Ranma's dream mirror that he extracted during the time it took Haruka and Michiru to return to their feet.

"Yahhhhhhhhh…" Ranma screamed in utter pain as Fish-Eye forcibly entered his dreams.

Hearing the scream of one of her targets, Iron Mouse took advantage of the fact that the two Lemures had been momentarily distracted by the appearance of two Sailor Senshi to unleash her own attack at Ranma. Unlike the first time no one was in position to knock Ranma out of the way and as such the golden soul stealing easily sliced into Ranma's body causing his screams of pain to reach an even higher level.

Unable to do anything to save Ranma, Uranus, Neptune, and Akane could only watch on in horror as what looked to be a golden flower form and unfolded above Ranma and then from that flow a shining crystal rose. The floating crystal shone brightly for a moment before its absence from Ranma caused it to turn dark. However, unlike as was the case for every other non-Senshi, no dark energy began to wrap around Ranma's soulless body, energy that should have turned him into a demon. Instead, Ranma's body surprisingly began to become translucent and dissolve into motes of light.

Yanking his head out of Ranma's dream mirror, Fish-Eye rounded on Iron Mouse, who was looking a bit down over having been wrong about Ranma have a true Star Seed, and yelled "What did you do?"

Ignoring Fish-Eye's question, Iron Mouse mused to herself, "Not a true Star Seed and I was so sure," before turning her attention to the other performer. _So she is a warrior as well as a performer maybe that was what this one was missing._

However, before she could attempt to steal Neptune's Star Seed, a roar grabbed everyone's attention, a roar that came from Ranma. With Ranma's mirror having gone blank the moment that Iron Mouse had forced Ranma's soul from his body, Fish-Eye had let it fall back down as he had turned his attention to the interloper who had prevented him from fully searching the boy's pure dreams. Now normally the dream mirror would have simply reintegrated with Ranma upon falling back onto his chest; however, with his body fading into motes of light that integration was not successful. Instead of disappearing into Ranma's body, the mirror fell through to lie on the table that Ranma was strapped to. The mirror lay there by itself for a moment as Ranma's body continued to dissolve, but then for a reason that only Sailor Pluto would have known Ranma's Star Seed began to drift downward and towards the mirror. Reaching the surface of the mirror, the black Star Seed slipped into the mirror and as it did so its glow returned. Then once the now brightly glowing Star Seed was fully inside of the mirror, the motes of light from Ranma's dissolving body began to reverse their course and to reform back into a body, a body, however, that was not Ranma's original body. Instead of a lanky black haired teenage boy, the motes of light formed into a redheaded female that was quite a few centimeters shorter and who was wearing a red trimmed leotard with a yellow bow and red boots.

"Um, what just happened?" Uranus asked Neptune.

"I am not quite sure," Neptune replied as she warily watched the now redheaded girl meow and begin stretching her muscles. While Sailor Erion had explained to them the transformation that non-Senshi went through when their souls were removed, something told Uranus and Neptune that whatever had happened to this girl she had not been transformed into a demon.

'_Galaxia said that a real Star Seed will continue to glow when removed from its host and this one stopped glowing, but then it began glowing again. I wonder what that means? Maybe I should bring it to Galaxia?'_ Iron Mouse thought before firing off another round of soul steeling spheres at the girl that she and Fish-Eye had created.

The redhead, however, without seeming to pay attention to the actions of Iron Mouse easily leapt out of the way of the attack. Now turning her attention to the various individuals in the room, she began examining them as her feline mind performed a threat assessment. Even though her memory was quite fuzzy, the girl was easily able to recognize her mate. As for the other four she did not recognize them, but two of them, the one that smelled of fish and the one that smelled of mouse, raised her hackles and she made sure to stay aware of them as she made her way towards her mate. Reaching her mate, she was distressed to see that the girl was partially unconscious. Hoping to bring her mate back to alertness, Ranma began butting her head into her side.

Feeling something push into her side, Akane groggily said, "Wha…" as she looked over to her side. Finding a red headed girl sitting on all fours at her side, Akane's brows crinkled in confusion.

"Meow?" Ranma tentatively asked.

"Don't worry, I'm okay. It will take more than being thrown into the wall to take Tendo Akane down," Akane said as she reached out and scratched the head of the girl beside her. Even though she had no idea of who this girl was or why the girl seemed to be acting as if she was a cat, Akane still tried her best to reassure the girl.

"Meow," Ranma contently replied as she laid her head down in her mate's lap and began to purr from the attention.

_Okay now this is getting very strange'_ Akane thought to herself as the unknown girl began to purr. Though as strange as it was for this girl to be acting as a cat, Akane did not give the strangeness anymore thought. Instead, she began trying to pull her faculties back together as she absently petted the girl's head. A few moments later the single word _Ranma_ echoed through her head and the memories of what had happened crashed back down to her.

That thought caused Akane to instantly sit upright as she began to apprehensively scan the hallway for her fiancé, an action that elicited a questioning meow from the redhead. To her distress all that she could see were two of the Sailor Senshi, someone who looked like a Sailor Senshi, some other person, and a pair of demons all of whom appeared to be engaged in a battle royal. _Ranma where is he? Maybe he was able to escape?_ Akane thought to herself. While not being able to locate Ranma worried her, she was at least partially reassured by the fact that the two who had attacked Ranma were still here and were apparently being tied up the Sailor Senshi. With any luck that meant that Sailor Senshi's presence had allowed Ranma and his partner to escape. _Wait, Kaiou-san didn't she… She's one of the Sailor Senshi. Wonder if I this means that I will be able to get the autograph of one of the Sailor Senshi_

While Akane was thinking these thoughts, she was lax in keeping fully aware of her surroundings, a lapse that she would chastise herself for later. She might not know where the cat-girl came from, but as a martial artist it was obviously her duty to keep the other girl from harm. Unfortunately, her failure to watch the battle meant that eventually one of the many dodged attacks came their way and by the time that Akane saw the Deep Submerge it was too late to move.

"Ranma I love you," Akane whispered out as she attempted to roll her body on top of the redhead, in an attempt to at least protect the shorter girl.

The redhead, however, had kept herself fully aware of what was happening, and as Akane moved to selflessly cover her, she slipped out of the larger girl's grasp. Bounding from her position beside Akane, the girl who was once Ranma paused in crouch for a moment in front of her mate before leaping into the air and using her right hand sliced the spell into two halves, halves that crashed to either side of Akane.

Just as Akane would be chastising herself for not paying attention to the raging battle, Michiru would also be chastising herself later for not keeping track of the non-combatants. Firing off her attack at the animate she had been elated at thinking she had finally caught Galaxia lackey off guard, but as her opponent moved out of the way that elation turned to horror as she saw what now lay in the path of her attack. She could only watch on in dread as her attack barreled in on the fiancé of her partner for the evening and what had apparently become of her partner. But then to her relief the attack was miraculously split in two. Seeing the redhead that had once been Saotome-san sitting there in front of where the attack had once been she could only conclude that he/she had somehow stopped it, how she had no idea, and then when the girl gave a very loud and annoyed growl she had to wonder did she just make herself a new enemy?

That growl grabbed not only Neptune's attention, but the attention of the other combatants as well. Stopping their actions, they each watched as the redheaded girl walked towards them on all fours. Puzzled by the peculiar sight, no one made any move to do anything as Ranma got in close, and then in a blink of an eye Ranma suddenly darted at Sailor Iron Mouse. Moving faster than anyone expected the teenager to be able to move, she was on top of the animate before the warrior had time to do anything more than fall back into a defensive stand. What little Iron Mouse was able to do to try to block the unexpected attack was utterly insufficient and in the next moment the animate was falling to the ground with her throat ripped open and her lifeless eyes wide in shock.

From Iron Mouse, the redhead ran towards Fish Eye and as she passed by the two demons, balls of flaming plasma streaked out of her hands, consuming the already heavily weakened demons. Reaching Fish Eye, she easily leapt to the side to dodge the Amazon's counter attack. Landing from the dodge, Ranma immediately reversed her course back to her target, this time getting close enough to sink her teeth hard into his right arm.

Taking advantage of the opportunity that the girl gave him, Fish Eye rammed his fist into the stomach of the momentarily helpless girl forcing her to release her hold on his arm. "You will pay for that!" Fish Eye yelled at the girl once he prepared to attack the girl again more enraged by the fact the bite mark was likely to leave a scar than the fact that he had been attacked.

Fish Eye, however, did not get a chance to continue his counter attack as Ranma had not been stunned at all by the punch and this time as she leapt at the demon master, she swiped her left hand at his stomach. While the hand passed a few centimeters from the stomach, the claws of chi that extended from the fingers easily sliced through Fish Eye's stomach, partially spilling his intestines.

Screaming in pain from the attack, Fish Eye fell to the ground and for the first time the seriousness of the situation registered on his mind. However, it was too late and before Fish Eye could even think of summoning some more demons or retreating, Ranma was by his head, and then Fish Eye knew no more as Ranma ripped into Fish Eye's neck with her mouth and snapped it.

Once the body fell still a few moments later, Ranma unclenched her jaws and pulled her bloody face away from the body of the former demon master. Then after taking a moment to wipe her face off on her right arm, Ranma slowly walked towards Uranus and Neptune who were frozen solid from what they had just witnessed. Seeing the redhead come her way, the two Senshi could only wonder if they were going to be joining Queen Serenity shortly.

Stopping in front of the two, Ranma settled down on her haunches and looked up at them. Then once she had their attention, she let out a loud meow that was easily understood to be a scolding meow. Then having "said" her piece, she returned to her four feet and walked up between the two Senshi and with a quick swipe of her right hand she left a long scratch on their legs that while being quite painful only drew a slight amount of blood.

"I think we have just been chastised," a slightly astonished Neptune guessed as Ranma walked back towards the two dead enemies.

"What do you mean?" Uranus asked.

"She obviously did not like that we almost hurt Tendo-san there with our battle and I am guessing what she just did was end our playtime by quickly killing our prey when she realized that we weren't being careful."

"Our playtime?" Uranus incredulously asked.

"Hai, for whatever reason Saotome-san currently appears to have the mind of a cat and you know how cats sometimes like to play with their prey. She must have thought we were doing the same, but felt we were being too reckless," Neptune said explaining how she thought about how Ranma's actions could be explained. "And, you see she is now presenting us with our prey… to I guess eat." Neptune added with a slight grimace, as Ranma proceeded to deposit first Iron Mouse and then Fish Eye at the feet of the two Senshi before returning to Akane.

Just as Ranma was returning to her mate, the rest of the Sailor Senshi who had both been alerted and delayed by the panic that had befallen the patrons when they had began to hear and feel the battle being waged. Knowing that they were not going to be able to make their way back stage until the majority of the patrons left the building and also recognizing the threat of people being trampled in an uncontrolled stampede they had instead focused their efforts on first safely guiding everyone outside while praying that Uranus and Neptune would be able to hold out.

"Is everything all right?" Venus asked when she realized that the battle appeared to be over.

"For the most part; though, there is an after effect that we are going to need Mercury to look at," Neptune replied garnering Mercury's attention.

"What is…" ChibiUsa began to say as she tried to get a good look at what lay at the Uranus and Neptune's feet. However, immediately upon getting her better look she suddenly found herself emptying her stomach.

"Sailor Moon are you okay?" Jupiter asked when she saw the pink haired warrior fall to her knees.

"Oh, I think I am going to be sick," Mars said as she also caught site of the two dead enemies.

"What are you… oh." Jupiter asked and then answered for herself as she too felt her stomach become a little queasy after seeing what was left of Fish Eye and Sailor Iron Mouse.

Likewise Venus also did not feel that great as she saw what had been done to the two dead enemies. However, her time as Sailor V had hardened her sufficiently that she was able to avoid losing her dinner, though just barely. "I know that they are our enemies, but isn't that just a little bit harsh?" Venus asked.

"Hai, and I am glad that the princess was not here to see it. Though, I wish that her daughter could have been spared." Neptune said as she and Uranus walked over to where ChibiUsa was now dry heaving.

"However, it was not us who did that to them," Uranus said as she and her partner gathered up ChibiUsa and began doing their best to comfort the young girl.

"If not you then who?" Ami asked as she approached the two bodies with her computer out, preparing to scan them.

"Saotome-san," was Neptune's reply as she nodded her head towards the redhead that was sitting in front of Akane.

"You mean her, she is Ranma?" the quavering voice of Akane asked.

"Hai, I am afraid so. Hopefully Mercury will be able to figure out how to help him," Neptune replied before turning back to Ami. "I believe that the new enemy there on the ground is one of Galaxia's animates and she was trying to steal Saotome-san's Star Seed. However, Fish Eye was trying to do the same with his dream mirror. Somehow the two simultaneous thefts resulted in turning him female, dressing her in an outfit like ours, and gave her the mind of a feline."

Her statement was naturally met with a large number of raised eyebrows, but the assembled Sailor Senshi could not refute the facts that were before them.

"Okay then, Neptune, Uranus I want you two to use my computer to record everything that you remember from the battle and anything that you felt as well. Include everything even if it doesn't make sense. While you are doing that I will contact the military for transporting the bodies to the research facility."

"Why do you want to do that?" Mars asked. "I should be able to incinerate them."

"I am sure that they will want to perform autopsies on them," Mercury replied.

The military, however, was destined to only get one of the bodies, for as Mercury gave her explanation Sailor Iron Mouse's body broke apart into quickly fading motes of light leaving behind a pair of golden bracers as the only indication that the animate had ever been there.

"It is conclusive then, Galaxia's forces have reached Earth," Sailor Erion stated once the body of Iron Mouse had vanished.

With that statement a grim cloud fell upon the Senshi. Walking over to where Iron Mouse had lain just moments ago, Venus knelt down and picked up the two bracers. Walking back to Mercury, she gave the blue haired Senshi one of them. "Mercury figure out everything you can about how these work. Find a way to block those soul stealing spheres that Erion has told us about or find a way to destroy these while the Animates still wear them. This is now your highest priority, even more important than the princess."

"Hai!" Mercury replied with a formal bow, knowing that war was now upon them.

"Minna-san I am going to go inform the Defense Minister of this development. Sailor Erion-san you are with me," Venus stated as she turned and walked out, taking the other bracer with her.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

That night Naru slept over at the Tsukino household in the same bed as ChibiUsa with her arms wrapped around the young girl whose sleep slipped from one nightmare to another. Those nightmares, spawned from what ChibiUsa had seen of the gruesome remains of Sailor Iron Mouse and Fish Eye, kept Naru from sleeping for more than a few minutes at a time with her night instead spent waking ChibiUsa up from nightmares, calming her back down, and then helping her fall back asleep. Not even the unknown help that Helios attempted to provide as he hid in ChibiUsa's subconscious were able to mitigate those nightmares.

Unfortunately, the gruesome details of what had happened to Fish Eye and Iron Mouse did not generate the worst nightmares that evening. No, that honor fell to the confirmation that Galaxia's forces had arrived on Earth and it was the national leaders and the other Sailor Senshi who had fitful sleeps that night – that was if they even had the opportunity to sleep that night. Quite a many of those leaders obviously did not get any sleep for by the time the sun rose the following morning in Tokyo, the nations of the Earth would all be on a war footing. While the governments would in the days to come try to paint a reasonably rosy picture for their populace, the military leaders all would know that they were about to fight a war in which they were going to be heavily outclassed. Many would wonder if they would be sending their men to be slaughtered, but at the same time knowing that there was no other option. If they were to be wiped out by this Galaxia, they were going to make her pay dearly for it.

About the only thing going for the other counties was that the Senshi incidents all seemed to, aside from the one in the arctic, take place in Tokyo. Therefore, they would have some further warning, a warning that gave them hope for a last ditch plan. That last ditch plan being the utter nuclear annihilation of Tokyo, and as such all of the nuclear powers, both those that were working with the Sailor Senshi and the others, began issuing orders to retarget all of their nuclear assets and to refurbish all assets that had been mothballed. Within a week's time ballistic missile subs would begin to resume their cold war duties of lying in the ocean depths and waiting for the order that would cause them to surface and launch their deadly payload. Similarly fully loaded transcontinental bombers would shortly begin their routine holding flights where they would await the order to break and penetrate.

Incinerating Tokyo with every atomic, thermonuclear, and neutron warhead available to the nations of the Earth was quickly realized to be the only military option left should the Sailor Senshi fail to defeat Galaxia themselves. That realization did not comfort many as they had trouble conceiving how their highly trained militaries could be so far below a group of junior high school girls, but they had eventually accepted the truth and in doing so put into place a course of action that would likely between the resulting nuclear winter, global fallout, and the potential for cracking the very crust of the planet, result in the extermination of all life on Earth. As much as they loathed such a solution, they all knew that should the Sailor Senshi fail that the human race was doomed. At least this way they would be able to take the enemy with them, sacrificing themselves for the few planets that Galaxia had not yet ravaged.

One item that the various presidents, prime ministers, and chairmen all found ironic as they gave the orders to put their countries on nuclear war footing was that they would have been far more comfortable with their dead man's plan if their current stockpiles of nuclear assets were not substantially reduced from what they were at the height of the Cold War.

End Chapter

Author Notes

In case you are getting confused, the terms Sailor Moon and Moon Princess can be used to refer to either Usagi or ChibiUsa, and as you can imagine this can cause some confusion when the listener is thinking about the wrong Usaig. The reason why the Senshi are now calling ChibiUsa Sailor Moon is because her fuku is an exact replica of Usagi's original Sailor Moon one (same colors and all).

You might find the decision to plan for a nuclear strike against Tokyo to be overboard, but after listening to Erion describe how her own planet with its far, far advanced weaponry was wiped out, they realized that the only option that they had available was self-sacrifice.

The bit with Ranma being transformed into a Sailor Senshi (one with the mind of a cat) is again another nod to the Sailor Ranko series. And for anyone who might be concerned about this becoming a Sailor Ranko crossover, not to worry. Sailor Sun will not be joining the team.

Now as for other stories to keep you occupied while I write the next chapter, I would suggest checking out "The Red Witch and the Hellsing Vampire" by Noongunfight, "Phantoms and Slayers" by Winterd, "Godless Provence" Lisette, and "Going Home Through a Starry Mirror" by theICEBear.

I made a slight edit to the wording of Ginny's thoughts on breaking Harry when he arrives at the Burrow that is the result of a change that Comet Moon suggested.


End file.
